Ashland Oil
In January 1988, a 4-million gallon oil storage tank owned by Ashland Oil Company, Inc., split apart and collapsed at an Ashland oil storage facility located in Floreffe, Pennsylvania, near the Monongahela River. The tank split while being filled to capacity for the first time after it had been dismantled and moved from an Ohio location and reassembled at the Floreffe facility. The split released diesel oil over the tank's containment dikes, across a parking lot on an adjacent property, and into an uncapped storm drain that emptied directly into the river. Within minutes the oil slick moved miles down river, washing over two dam locks and dispersing throughout the width and depth of the river. The oil was carried by the Monongahela River into the Ohio River, temporarily contaminating drinking water sources for an estimated 1 million people in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, contaminating river ecosystems, killing thousands of wildlife, damaging private property, and adversely affecting businesses in the area.Round-the-clock clean-up efforts were undertaken by Ashland and its contractors, under the supervision of governmental coordinators located at the terminal in Floreffe. After local authorities executed the initial on-
A more rapid establishment of a central command post would have enhanced response coordination. In addition, the delay of RRT activation until 2 days after the incident may have decreased opportunities for valuable assistance to the responding agencies. Communication problems and lack of available containment and monitoring equipment also hindered response efforts. Evaluators of the response recommended that inventories of locally available equipment be prepared to assist emergency responders in quickly locating needed equipment. It was also recommended that to protect public water sources in future emergencies, water suppliers should plan for the availability of contingency water supplies and equipment. The two press releases serve their purpose conveying to the public an apology, responsibility for the action, commitment to repair, and acknowledgement to the hardship placed upon those affected. Press release A forgoes the attorney-client privilege and brings right to the forefront the issues and facts concerning the spill. Press release B does not do this and remains general. Neither press releases are bad each with it merits and negative repercussions, but press release publicly admits wrongdoing opening the issues for further scrutiny with potential legal and criminal repercussions. At this point, the CEO was not prepared to unleash the skeletons resulting from press release A. Press release B is the proper release to use. I would use press release B verbatim, until I got a control of the situation and understood all the issues. I would also have those involved with the clean up with me to field questions as subject matter experts. More than 511,000 gallons of diesel fuel from the spill, one of the largest inland incidents ever to have occurred, remain unrecovered and are presumed in the rivers.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Oil Inc, Practices Act, PRESS RELEASE, Virginia Contractors, Oil Inc's, ETHICAL ANALYSIS, Monongahela River, Virginia Ohio, Exchange Commission, Team RRT, press release, ashland oil, diesel fuel, spill environment community, days incident, environment community, water supplies, monongahela river, operating procedures, water sources, ashland oil inc, press release press, west virginia,
Approximate Word count = 1225
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
