David Janka of the conservation group WWF shows off an oil-stained glove after reaching into a hole on Eleanor Island in Alaska's Prince William Sound on February 6, 2009.
Two decades after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, huge quantities of oil still coat Alaska's shores with a toxic glaze, experts said in March 2009. (Read the story.)
Of the 11 million gallons of crude oil that bled from the stranded tanker on the night of March 23, 1989, more than 21,000 remain, tucked into isolated coves and underneath the sand.
"The damage that [the spill] created is something beyond anyone's imagination," said Michel Boufadel, Temple Universitys Civil and Environmental Engineering chair, who has just completed research on why the oil has persisted.
A mixture of oil and water oozes into a roughly 10-inch-deep (25-centimeter-deep) hole dug into a beach on Alaska's Eleanor Island in Prince William Sound on February 6, 2009.
An intensive clean-up effort after the Exxon Valdez disaster ended in 1994, when oil was naturally disintegrating at a high rate. Experts wrongly predicted the oil would be gone within a few years.
Instead, the natural breakdown of the oil has slowed, mostly due to the oil-coated beaches' isolation from regular water flow, experts said in March 2009. Water both sloughs off bits of oil and replenishes nutrients for oil-eating bacteria, experts say.
An intensive clean-up effort after the Exxon Valdez disaster ended in 1994, when oil was naturally disintegrating at a high rate. Experts wrongly predicted the oil would be gone within a few years.
Instead, the natural breakdown of the oil has slowed, mostly due to the oil-coated beaches' isolation from regular water flow, experts said in March 2009. Water both sloughs off bits of oil and replenishes nutrients for oil-eating bacteria, experts say.
Crews use high-pressured hoses to blast oil-covered rocks on Naked Island, Alaska, on April 21, 1989, about a month after the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground.
An 11,000-person crew removed much of the oil from the beaches until 1994, when government officials decided to end the clean-up effort.
But that decision was made too soon, as huge quantities of oil still remain, experts said in March 2009.
An 11,000-person crew removed much of the oil from the beaches until 1994, when government officials decided to end the clean-up effort.
But that decision was made too soon, as huge quantities of oil still remain, experts said in March 2009.
Courtesy: NGC
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