25 Years After theExxon Valdez Disaster

With excerpts from The Exxon Valdez 25 years later: By Joanna Walters, New York

Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10717219/Exxon-Valdez-25-years-after-the-Alaska-oil-spill-the-court-battle-continues.html

The Exxon Valdez, 25 years Later: By the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Full article: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/podcast/mar14/mw122-exxonvaldez.html

Oil reached beaches 650 miles away. Killer whales, eagles, otters, seals and thousands of sea birds died

excruciating deaths while Alaska's famous salmon and herring were ruined.

March 24 1989Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef and began leaking oil.

The hull ripped open, hours after leaving its namesake port of Valdez in south-east Alaska, and more than 11 million gallons of black crude gushed into the pristine waters of

Prince William Sound.

A local fisherman inspects a dead California gray whale on the northern shore of Latouche Island in 1989 Photo: John Gaps

III/AP

What have we learned?

After the spill, new laws required tankers in the region to be double-hulled, to reduce the risk of similar spills, all oil vessels to be escorted past Bligh Reef by tugboat, and alcohol tests. <The captain of the ship was found to have been drinking>

In this podcast, we talk with NOAA marine biologist Gary Shigenaka to find out how marine life is faring in Prince William Sound today. We also look at lessons we might learn from this environmental disaster in light of growing oil exploration and shipping traffic in the Arctic.

Click the speaker to listen (15m)

“Prince William Sound has recovered and the ecosystem is healthy and thriving." Richard Keil, a senior media relations adviser at ExxonMobil,

Some scientists estimate that between 16,000 and 21,000 gallons of oil from the spill lingers on beaches in Prince William Sound and up

to 450 miles away, some of it no more biodegraded than it was at the time of the disaster.

Close-up view of dislodged stones in Kiukpalik (Gail Irvine/USGS)

“Of 32 animal types, habitats and natural resources monitored, only 13 have recuperated fully. The ecosystem will never entirely recover." Rick Steiner, a

University of Alaska marine adviser during the spill

Image from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.

Is a full recovery really possible?

"I think we need to really keep in mind that maybeour prior notions of recovery as returning to some pre-spill or absolute control condition may be outmoded. We need to really overlay that with the dynamic changes that are occurring for whatever reason and adjust our assessments and definitions accordingly. I don't have the answers for the best way to do that. We've gotten some ideas from the work that we've done, but I think that as those changes begin to accelerate and become much more marked, then it's going to be harder to do.“

GARY SHIGENAKA, NOAA Biologist

Crude oil still travels 800 miles through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline from the frozen Arctic.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pipeline/map/

How can we prevent oil spill disasters?