Unless human health is involved and people are being killed, there are those who deny there can be a disaster. Most people view disaster in human terms, not in terms of an ecosystem. Alaska is a state which has long benefited from oil jobs and revenues. A large portion of Alaska's economic growth between 1970 and 1990 was due to oil. Alaska has no state sales tax .
Oil revenues support airports, schools, public works, etc.
But the spill affected another strong economic group in Alaska, the fishing industry . Thousands of Alaskans depend upon fishing. This made strange bedfellows of environmentalists and fishermen, following the spill. Environmentalists countered by saying that this would not get around Exxon's corporate responsibility. The Caspian Basin seabed may contain the world's largest accessible petroleum reserves.