Walter B. Parker Act, which was signed into law in 1980 by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, spilling an estimated 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of crude oil. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a major environmental disaster for the state. Governor Steve Cowper, who held office at the time of the spill, appointed Walter Parker as the chairman of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission in 1989. The Alaska Oil Spill Commission was created by the Alaska state government to investigate the causes of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Oil Spill Response Limited Oil Spill Response Limited Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) is a British firm specializing in the global fight against oil spills. The company was founded in 1985 and employs about 300 people at nine locations. Shareholders are all major oil companies such as BHP Billiton, Chevron Corporation, Eni, ExxonMobil, Petronas, Saudi Aramco, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Total. OSRL is the largest industry-developed and co-financed by the cooperative for emergency response. As such, the company's focus is not on the generation of profits. Funding is provided by the annual contributions of its 44 stakeholders and 118 extraordinary members, as well