Ethical Issues - An Exxon Valdez Case

Ethical Issues - An Exxon Valdez Case

Introduction

The fortune 500 is the giant companies residing in the United States of America. The company, which I have chosen for in-depth analysis, has been ranked second among the other 500 companies altering the fortune of the United States and is named as “ExxonMobil”. The Company enjoys quite a stable status within the worldwide market and has facilitated the production of millions of gallons. The company also seeks to provide the logistics services thereby allowing the oil tankers to transport crude oil from one place to another. However, tragic accident of oil spill in the mid of 1989, commonly known as “Exxon Valdez Oil Spill” is quite commonly considered being the most crucial factor for expanding the domains of ethical as well as ecological concerns and has enabled companies to pass through the phases of development of various laws and legislatures.

Discussion

The paper will look into the various aspects concerning the ethical dilemmas and the failure to execute the contingency plan. The paper will also look into the perspective of stakeholder theory and the blame game played during the tragic incident. This was the most serious dip in the history of ExxonMobil 1254 history of endless glory. A total of $4.3 billions of oil was spilled on account of accident together with the cost incurred on compensations, cleanup, settlement and most importantly fines. Before going into the profound analysis of the ethical concerns which were raised by this very incident, some background knowledge of the accident will provide better grounds for discussing the ethical, as well as environmental aspects in a much better way.

Background Information

The Exxon Valdez tanker carrying a total of 1.2 million barrels of crude oil and prop with the state-of-the-art technology left the South coast of Alaska on 23rd March heading towards California. The Bligh Island rocks torn apart the hull of tanker having dimension of 6 feet wide and 20 feet long. This was the worst oil spill in the United States' history.

The spread of oil lasts for 56 days whereas the authorities does not have a contingency plan for getting along with this type of massively disastrous situation. Exxon, Coast Guard and Alyeska Corporation all together were not able to find a way out of the spill and do not even know how to react towards the problematic nature of the oil spill. The oil spread as far as 470 miles southwest from the point of the spill and contaminated the beaches located in Prince William Sound. Also, subsequent oil was also found on the eastern shores of the Alaskan Peninsula, Kenai Peninsula and has also reached as far as Kodiak Island. Around 1300 miles of shoreline was affected due to the oil spill thereby covering a huge approximate length from South Carolina to New Jersey. The oil spill covers the area of 900 square miles out of which 257,000 barrels of oil were spilled along with 32,500 barrels recovered from cleanup ...