Exxon Valdez Oil Spill - By the Numbers

It has been 7,032 days since the Exxon Valdez struck the Bligh Reef outside of Valdez, Alaska.  And it has been 5,030 days since the over 30,000 victims (including the estimated 6,000 to 8,000 of the original plaintiffs who have died) were awarded $287 million in actual damages and $5 billion in punitive damages by an Alaskan jury.  But it has only been the past couple of weeks since we have been waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to hand down its ruling on the Exxon Valdez case. (Click here for more info).

So, in anticipation of the verdict here are some statistics provided by local Alaska news channel KTUU to put this man-made ecological disaster into perspective:

11,000 -- number of square miles that the oil spill covered

5,014,286 -- number of gallons of gasoline that could have been made from the spilled oil

$21,009,857 ($21 million) -- amount of money it would cost you at the pump (at today's prices) for that amount of gasoline

$9,899,657,997.20 ($10 billion) -- amount of interest the original $5 billion punitive damages awarded in 1994 would have earned at 5 percent, compounded annually

$2,756,250,000 ($2.8 billion) -- amount of interest the $2.5 billion punitive damages awarded in 2006 would have earned at 5 percent, compounded annually

$5.3 billion -- approximate amount Exxon would have to pay out if the Supreme Court awards full punitive damages

22.5 -- number of days it takes Exxon to earn $2.5 billion in profit (based on first quarter 2008 earnings numbers)

26,000 -- number of gallons of oil estimated to still be on Alaska beaches

Animals killed by oil spilled:
250,000 to 500,000 seabirds
1,000 otters
300 harbor seals
250 bald eagles
22 orcas
billions of salmon and herring eggs

$80,000 -- approximate amount Exxon paid for every dead otter captured, scrubbed and released

5 -- number of animal species known not to have recovered from the spill

Comments

[Pat M]

This is awful!!!