Spill That May Have Covered a Few Acres, Became One That Stretched 1,100 Miles (BP History)

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http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9FU0VB82.htm

BP had a key role in the Exxon Valdez disaster

By NOAKI SCHWARTZ

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BP owned a controlling interest in the Alaska oil industry consortium that was required to write a cleanup plan and respond to the spill two decades ago. It also supplied the top executive of the consortium, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. Lawsuits and investigations that followed the Valdez disaster blamed both Exxon and Alyeska for a response that was bungled on many levels.

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Watching the current crisis is like reliving the Valdez disaster for an attorney who headed the legal team for the state-appointed Alaska Oil Spill Commission that investigated the 1989 spill.

"I feel this horrible, sickening feeling," said Zygmunt Plater, who now teaches law at Boston College.

The Alaska spill occurred just after midnight on March 24, 1989, when the Exxon Valdez tanker carrying more than 50 million gallons of crude hit a reef after deviating from shipping lanes at the Valdez oil terminal. Years of cost cutting and poor planning led to staggering delays in response over the next five hours, according to the state commission's report.

What could have been an oil spill covering a few acres became one that stretched 1,100 miles, said Walter Parker, the commission's chairman.

"They were not prepared to respond at all," Parker said, referring to Alyeska. "They did not have a trained team ... The equipment was buried under several feet of snow."

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"What happened in Alaska was determined by decisions coming from (BP in) Houston," Plater said.