Exxon Valdez oil spill accidentally crashes it. Exxon Valdez oil spill The "Exxon Valdez" oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, March 24, 1989, when "Exxon Valdez", an oil tanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, 1.5 miles west of Tatitlek, Alaska at 12:04 am local time and spilled (or a mass of 35,000 metric tonnes) of crude oil over the next few days. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters. The "Valdez" spill is the second largest in US waters, after the 2010 "Deepwater Horizon" oil
Milford Haven Waterway first oil terminal and oil refinery in 1960; unfortunately this coincided with a serious oil-spill from "Esso Portsmouth", the first oil tanker to unload there. Since then, there have been numerous spills of varying magnitude, providing the port authority with a great deal of experience. Uniquely at the time, the harbourmaster instituted the principle of cleaning up first and allocating the blame (and the responsibility of paying for it) later. There are two large oil refineries nearby which represent one fifth of the United Kingdom's oil refining capacity. In 1978 the tanker "Christos Bitas" ran aground off the Haven, spilling