Paper Example on Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Introduction

The Exxon Valdez oil spill is undoubtedly one of the global environmental disasters that have ever been created by the human. According to the US environmental protection Agency, 11 million gallons of crude oil as a result of this disaster dribbled Prince William Sound. It is worth to note that the devastation was deeply felt and still has an effect not only the local residents but as well the animals alive in the environmentally key areas. A 987-foot tanker comprising of the eleven cargo tanks with the capacity of holding about 53 million gallons of oils on March 22 at 11.30 PM was at the terminal of Alyeska Marine ready to take the cargo. The following day on 24th the tanker commenced loading on the crude oil as supervised by Chief Mate James which was to be completed after one day. The remainder of the staff had March 23 as their day of rest who designated to travel to Valdez, captain Hazelwood, Chief Engineer Glowaki and Robertson the radio officer were taken by marina pilot Murphy. At 8.24 PM these men had arrived back Exxon Valdez upon which they were notified that original schedule was altered hence they would leave earlier since loading was completed before the planned time.

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Exxon Valdez crew at 7.48 PM had already begun navigational mechanical as well as safety and left the dock at 9.12 PM having two tugboats as assistance together with the pilot Murphy. Against the policy of the Exxon Company, Murphy piloted alone the Exxon Valdez since captain Hazelwood departed the bridge a few minutes afterward. At 11:10 PM Hazelwood, the captain reverted to the bridge whereas pilot Murphy ought to have been departing the ship, the captain alone piloted the ship in absence of lookouts once more violation of the company's policy. The captain radioed at 11.25 PM at the Vessel traffic center as a way of advising about the crossing inbound lane to depart the sound which was confirmed by the Vessel Traffic Center. It is noted that about 11:47 the ship proceeding on with its original speed passed over the lanes trying to miss ice in the canal.

An approximately five minutes thereafter, the ship is said to have been placed the "load-up program" upon which that speed of the ship ought to have increased from 55 RPM to the full ship speed of 78.7 RPM, soon after captain Hazelwood left and ship being placed under Third Mate's command who is said to have been awake for 18 hours. Third Mate on 24th March commenced piloting the ship in the direction of traffic lanes; Lookout Jones give a report after she saw on the starboard side the Bligh Reef light. It happened that the ship ought to have been drifted from the channel that was designated thereby being piloted far southeast where it ought to have been. At 12:04 AM as the ship was running aground, Third Mate contacted Captain Hazelwood to give a report on the trajectory as well as the location of the ship (Fearn-Banks, 2016).

Following the running aground, there was devastating damage in that eight of the eleven ship's cargo was destroyed, resulting in millions of the gallons of the crude oil disgorged into the William Sound. Shortly afterward Captain Hazelwood radioed Valdez center of traffic to give a report on the aspect of running aground beside spewing oil. The ship was evaluated by Chief Mate by use of the computer program in determining if there were sea worth and determined it was promising but failed to advice. In summary gallons of the crude oil amounting to 10.8 million were dumped into the sound has more than 1000 coastline miles affected. The whole thing was a result of failing to adhere to the policies and procedures of the company in place to avert the disaster that ought not to have happened in the first place. Combination of the pilot error, fatigue as well as lack of the oversight all together contributed to the creation of the disaster.

Response

The response of the Exxon to the tragedy is nothing more than failure in crisis communication which created bad blood to the public, Exxon and the entire industry of Gas Drilling. Crisis communication objective is to prevent an organization from having its consumer lose trust and credibility with its products and organization itself. Critical to every crisis management plan entails that quick response, as well as honesty, is paramount in giving accurate as well as realistic predictions in relation to how things ought to proceed from the beginning to the end. This gives an organization a chance to release information out instead of relying on the media besides appearing to be in control of the situation in hand. Delay by the Exxon's spokesperson David Parish following the grounding of the Exxon Valdez brought many questions than answers as some public argued that the company ought to have been hiding something hence searching for other sources of information (Lando, 2014).

Exxon's Initial response not only was it late but also lacked honesty and openness required from an entity during a moment of crisis particularly when the disaster was a result of the employees' incompetence. Exxon's crisis management plan lacked concise and clear message besides failing to incorporate components of the Covelo's circle of the public confidence. The company was indirectly dealing with the issue thereby blaming people as well as other deficiencies for the poor response. Constant changes to the message abridged the public trust (Saunders, 2016).

Development of the Holding Statement

Supertanker commenced spewing the crude oil into the sensitive area. The overall objective being viewing the organization as a company that is committed to individuals, community as well as the planet. Secondly, its provision of information to the public concerning the aspect upon which Exxon ought to be dealing with disaster, thereby demonstrating the capability of the Exxon in handling the disaster besides instilling the confidence. Thirdly it's the provision of compensation, services as well as assistance to the victims not forgetting the animals. Fourthly, it entails having a complete investigation of the happenings thereby determining what really happened, anyone who might be at fault as wells what ought to be done to avert such happenings in future (Saunders, 2016).

Crisis Communication Team

Key Spokespeople

Cornett Dan, the president of Exxon Alaska ought to be in charge of making all statements to media and being the contact person. Parish David being the international spokesperson ought to be in charge of answering all media queries in relation to the operations and general business. Larossi Frank, president of the Exxon shipping Company ought to be in charge of responding to any technical question in relation to cleaning-up what might have gone wrong together with the progress of the crisis. Crisis information log stands to be paramount in keeping an eye of the public understanding regarding the crisis besides tracking questions of the media. This is paramount considering that such concerns ought to be taken into perspectives in the press conferences as well as meetings of the town hall.

Key Message

To begin with, first, it is imperative to note that Exxon is dedicated to the safety of the public as well as restoring the natural beauty of Prince William. Secondly, Exxon looks forward to carrying out a full as well as a thorough investigation into what triggered grounding of Exxon Valdez together with the effectiveness of the response. The company remains fully dedicated to being an environmental steward. Thirdly everyone affected by the disaster will be recompensed in that Exxon will not tolerate people be suffering during the prevailing disconcerting moment (Walker & et al, 2018).

Main Stakeholders

The targeted audience who as well are the key stakeholders includes Public of the United States, in particular, the residents of Alaska living and relying for their livelihood on Prince William Sound. The politicians and the local businesses as well as regulators that includes Environmental Protection Agency, Atmospheric administration, and national oceanic, fire and public health, Fish and Game Department, as well as the local police.

Post-Crisis Analysis

The best strategy that ought to be implemented by Exxon includes that of forgiveness thereby accepting full as well as complete responsibilities for the transpired crisis thereby dealing with clean-up, compensation as well as remediation. The bottom line is that Exxon staff failed to effectively adhere to laid down procedures hence resulting in an unfortunate event. Another fault is the fact that information failed to have been relayed to the headquarters of the corporate (Pangarkar, 2016).

Last Word

As the crisis communication plan unfolds it is essential to have an effective measurement as well as evaluation of the program in making sure that the desired significant messages received by public and media ought to be understood. More important is the aspect of making sure that the image of the company ought to be portrayed properly besides having the company perceived as competent.

Reference

Fearn-Banks, K. (2016). Crisis communications: A casebook approach. Routledge.

Lando, A. L. (2014). The critical role of crisis communication plan in corporations' crises preparedness and management. Global Media Journal, 7(1), 5.

Pangarkar, N. (2016). A framework for effective crisis response. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 29(4), 464-483.

Saunders, J. (2016). Crisis Communications and Media Coverage Before, During, and After a Natural Disaster.

Walker, A. H., Scholz, D., McPeek, M., French-McCay, D., Rowe, J., Bock, M., ... & Wenning, R. (2018). Comparative risk assessment of spill response options for a deepwater oil well blowout: Part III. Stakeholder engagement. Marine pollution bulletin.