What environmental disaster occurred in 1989?

What environmental disaster occurred in 1989?

On March 24, 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of oil. The ecologically sensitive location, season of the year, and large scale of this spill resulted in one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history.

What caused the created environment disaster in Alaska?

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company that was bound for Long Beach, California struck Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef, 1.5 mi (2.4 km) west of Tatitlek, Alaska at 12:04 a.m. and spilled 10.8 million US …

Why did Exxon Valdez happen?

Workers steaming blast rocks covered in crude oil leaking from the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker that ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, U.S. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) eventually assigned most of the blame for the oil spill to Exxon, citing its incompetent and overworked crew.

What was the environmental impact of the Exxon Valdez oil spill?

On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground in northern Prince William Sound, spilling 42 million liters of crude oil and contaminating 1,990 kilometers of shoreline. Some 2,000 sea otters, 302 harbor seals and about 250,000 seabirds died in the days immediately following the spill.

How many oil spills occurred in Alaska?

Overall, 126 oil spills in Alaska and Canada were identified which met the study criteria. All of these spills occurred between 1970 and September 1999. The most recent spill occurred in 1997. There are 28 spills of 500 barrels and greater and 14 spills of 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) or greater.

What happened to Captain of Exxon Valdez?

The National Transportation Safety Board reported Thursday that the captain of the Exxon Valdez was legally drunk when he was tested some 10 hours after his tanker hit a reef last week, causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

How did they clean up the Exxon Valdez?

Cleanup workers skimmed oil from the water’s surface, sprayed oil dispersant chemicals in the water and on shore, washed oiled beaches with hot water and rescued and cleaned animals trapped in oil.

Could the Exxon Valdez been prevented?

Exxon Valdez was a single-hulled tanker; a double-hull design, by making it less likely that a collision would have spilled oil, might have prevented the Exxon Valdez disaster.

What are the long term effects of oil spills on the environment?

Large scale persistent ecological effects were observed during DWH, including impacts to deep ocean corals, failed recruitment of oysters over multiple years, damage to coastal wetlands, reduced dolphin, sea turtle, and seabird populations, and likely cascading impacts on menhaden and other coastal species from …

How does an oil spill affect the environment?

When oils rigs or machinery malfunction or break, thousands of tons of oil can seep into the environment. Oil spill effects on environments and habitats can be catastrophic: they can kill plants and animals, disturb salinity/pH levels, pollute air/water and more.

What are some of the horrifying disasters in Alaska?

Check out these horrifying disasters in Alaska that include huge airplane crashes, oil spills and an unforgettable whaling disaster that left 33 ships abandoned in the freezing arctic.

What was the Oil Pollution Act of 1990?

Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Exxon Valdez was a single-hulled tanker; a double-hull design, by making it less likely that a collision would have spilled oil, might have prevented the Exxon Valdez disaster.

Who was the mayor of Alaska during the Exxon Valdez disaster?

Exxon was widely criticized for its slow response to cleaning up the disaster and John Devens, the mayor of Valdez, has said his community felt betrayed by Exxon’s inadequate response to the crisis. More than 11,000 Alaska residents, along with some Exxon employees, worked throughout the region to try to restore the environment.

What was the worst oil spill in US history?

It was the worst oil spill in U.S. history until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The Exxon Valdez oil slick covered 1,300 miles of coastline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds, otters, seals and whales. Nearly 30 years later, pockets of crude oil remain in some locations.

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