in the oil leasing business. The Interior Department and the Coast Guard have the duty to safeguard against oil spills, and the state is constitutionally obligated to protect its lands and waters. After being so ardently pro oil development, and anticipating a colossal increase in revenues to its treasury, it was reasonable to question whether these agencies could fulfill their duties as guardians of the environment. As citizens voted, legislators enacted, federal and state government agencies swelled, and corporate executives planned, all cooperated in trying to make the promises of oil a reality. Then, there was an accident.
The ethical issues consequent to the Exxon Valdez disaster should surprise no one. Where commerce exists, there will always be moral choices to be made between profits and safety, production and the environment, risk and reward, rights and duties, and, most often overlooked, between ethicality and legality- the ought to do versus the must do. Exxon officials tried to depict the accident as an anomaly, and hoped to dismiss the w
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