Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster oil onto the Alaskan shoreline. Much of the film centers on the conflict between local officials, the fishing industry, and the Exxon official sent out to oversee the clean-up and take the rap. The filmmakers point out that much of the aftermath could have been minimized had the officials in charge been better prepared and not spent so much time involved in useless red-tape and petty bureaucratic bickering. Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster is a 1992 movie depicting the "Exxon Valdez" oil spill disaster off the coast of Alaska. Directed by Paul Seed,
Exxon Valdez oil spill official position was that punitive damages greater than $25 million were not justified because the spill resulted from an accident, and because Exxon spent an estimated $2 billion cleaning up the spill and a further $1 billion to settle related civil and criminal charges. Attorneys for the plaintiffs contended that Exxon bore responsibility for the accident because the company "put a drunk in charge of a tanker in Prince William Sound." Exxon recovered a significant portion of clean-up and legal expenses through insurance claims associated with the grounding of the "Exxon Valdez". Also, in 1991, Exxon made a quiet, separate