Last week marked the tenth anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the worst oil disaster in US history. Eleven million gallons of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground. Although immense clean-up efforts were undertaken and a decade of tidal action and natural weathering has taken place, oil still lingers in many intertidal ecosystems and some of it is still toxic. Meanwhile, dozens more oil tankers (including the recent New Carissa) have run aground, and the legal mechanisms for ensuring (and the steps for enacting) safety and clean-up of oil spills have been largely mired under political and economic agendas. In particular, although a federal jury awarded Alaskan fishers and Natives $5.3 billion in 1994, Exxon has refused to pay up. The eleven sites listed provide information resources and commentary on the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
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