Exxon in Crisis | Crisis Mismanagement | 2
Business Movers
Wondery
4.7 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2022
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Exxon attempts to take charge of the clean-up operation in Prince William Sound. But its chaotic efforts to mop up the spill add a public relations disaster to the massive ecological damage already done.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey prime members, you can listen to business movers add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. |
| 0:24.0 | It's the afternoon of March 24th, 1989. |
| 0:28.0 | Seen hours after the Exxon Valdez super tanker ran aground. In the skies over Alaska, an Exxon corporate jet wings its way toward Valdez, the scene of the disaster. |
| 0:39.0 | An executive, Frank Ayarasi, peers at the window as the jet hurls through the clouds. |
| 0:45.0 | This bookish 52 year old is president of Exxon shipping, the subsidiary of the oil giant that's responsible for operating the Exxon Valdez. |
| 0:54.0 | Frank is heading to Alaska to take charge of Exxon's response to the accident. He's brought with him a hand-picked team, including a company scientist, a senior mariner, and of course a lawyer. |
| 1:05.0 | Frank looks up to see a member of his team approaching Craig Resseneer, Exxon's oil spill response coordinator. |
| 1:12.0 | Craig settles down into the plush leather seat opposite Frank. |
| 1:16.0 | Oh Frank, just got off the phone with Long Beach, that comms equipment is being transferred as we speak, and the planes. They're on the move. |
| 1:24.0 | We got a DC-8 coming out of Oakland, and the C-130s should be airborne by now. |
| 1:28.0 | Good. |
| 1:30.0 | Frank rubs his tired eyes. He's been up since the early hours. He was asleep in bed in his Houston home when he got the phone call, alerting him to the Exxon Valdez disaster. |
| 1:41.0 | Immediately after hearing the news, Frank started making calls from his bedside. |
| 1:46.0 | By 7am, he was in his office, and by 11.30, he was on a company jet bound for Valdez. |
| 1:52.0 | Now Frank glances anxiously through the window of the airplane. They say we'll be able to see her on our way in. |
| 1:58.0 | After the weather's clear, it can get pretty foggy out there right here. |
| 2:02.0 | Well, at the very least, I hope we can see how far Aliasca got with the cleanup. |
| 2:07.0 | The Aliasca consortium runs the Trans-Alaskan oil pipeline in the tanker terminal in Valdez. |
| 2:13.0 | It's also responsible for the initial response to any oil spills in the area. |
| 2:17.0 | I mean, they should have some containment booms in the water by now. |
| 2:21.0 | I just can't believe this is happening again. Hawaii was bad enough. |
| 2:25.0 | Frank shudders at Craig's mention of Hawaii. |
... |
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