Exxon Valdez

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Title Page
Exxon Valdez Oil spill 1989 Impact on Prince
William Sound and Copper River
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State of Alaska
State of Alaska
Site of Exxon Valdex oil spill
Location of the Exxon Valdex oil spill in the
state of Alaska
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Area of Impact
A processed satellite image
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Valdez Oil Terminal
1. Valdez Oil Terminal Loading piers at the
Valdez terminal. Here, oil from the trans-Alaska
pipeline is loaded onto tankers for shipment to
West Coast states. At this terminal, oil was
loaded onto the Exxon Valdez for shipment to Los
Angeles/Long Beach.
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The Exxon Valdez, Grounded on Bligh Reef
2. The Exxon Valdez, Grounded on Bligh
Reef Shortly after leaving the Port of Valdez,
the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef. The
picture below was taken 3 days after the vessel
grounded, just before a storm arrived.
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Lightering Remaining Cargo
3. Lightering Remaining Cargo Oil was lightered
(transferred) from the Exxon Valdez (left) to the
Exxon Baton Rouge (right), in a successful effort
to keep the oil remaining on the Exxon Valdez
from spilling into Prince William Sound. About
one-fifth of the oil carried by the Exxon Valdez
was spilled the remaining 42 million gallons of
oil was safely transferred to the Baton Rouge.
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Exxon Valdez Surrounded by Boom
4. Exxon Valdez Surrounded by Boom After the
remaining cargo was offloaded and the Exxon
Valdez was refloated, the vessel was moved to
Outside Bay, southwest of Naked Island, where
temporary repairs were made. Here, you can see it
at anchor in Outside Bay, surrounded by
protective boom.
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Heavy Sheen on Sea Surface
5. Heavy Sheen on Sea Surface During the first
few days of the spill, heavy sheens of oil, such
as the sheen visible in this photograph, covered
large areas of the surface of Prince William
Sound.
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Boom Around Salmon Hatchery
6. Boom Around Salmon Hatchery As the spilled oil
moved across the waters of Prince William Sound,
responders tried to protect especially sensitive
locations, such as this salmon hatchery in the
eastern Sound, which they surrounded with
protective boom. Boom floats on the water surface
and is designed to act as a barrier to oil.
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Oil Pooled Among Rocks
7. Oil Pooled Among Rocks Beginning 3 days after
the vessel grounded, a storm pushed large
quantities of fresh oil onto the rocky shores of
many of the beaches in the Knight Island chain.
In this photograph, pooled oil is shown stranded
in the rocks.
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Pools of Oil on Rocky Beach
8. Pools of Oil on Rocky Beach This photograph
shows a heavily impacted rocky beach.
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Boom, Barge, and Skimmer
9. Boom, Barge, and Skimmer Cleanup operations
included skimming oil from the water surface with
towed booms, as shown below. Two boats are towing
the boom (only one is visible in this photo). Oil
is collecting within the boom, and a small
skimmer at the apex of the boom is removing the
oil from the water surface. The skimmed oil is
being pumped through a hose into the barge that
is following the skimmer.
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Skimming Operation
10. Skimming Operation Oil being skimmed from the
sea surface. Here, two boats are towing a
collection boom. Oil concentrated within the boom
is being picked up by the skimmer (the vessel at
the apex of the boom).
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Scene in the Command Center
11. Scene in the Command Center NOAA scientists
at work in the spill response command center at
Valdez. Some of their projects included
forecasting the movement and fate of floating
oil, identifying sensitive environments,
evaluating results of surveys of shoreline
oiling, studying the effects of shoreline cleanup
methods, and coordinating scientific activities
during the response.
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Oil High on Beach Front
12. Oil High on Beach Front In many locations in
Prince William Sound, the action of tides and
currents distributed oil throughout the entire
intertidal zone. In Northwest Bay on Knight
Island, tides have deposited oil on this rocky
beach face up to the top of the intertidal zone.
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Oiled Beach at Herring Bay
13. Oiled Beach at Herring Bay The backs of many
bays were heavily impacted. This photograph shows
a heavily oiled section of beach at the back of
Herring Bay.
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Transport of Oiled Wildlife
14. Transport of Oiled Wildlife Workers
transporting captured, oiled wildlife to a
rehabilitation center for cleaning. Researchers
are actively debating the effectiveness of
wildlife rehabilitation. While some studies have
found rehabilitation to be ineffective,
rehabilitation proponents have pointed out other
cases in which rates of survival of rehabilitated
wildlife have been substantially higher.
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High-Pressure, Hot-Water Washing I
15. High-Pressure, Hot-Water Washing Workers
using high-pressure, hot-water washing to clean
an oiled shoreline. In this treatment method,
used on many Prince William Sound beaches, oil is
hosed from beaches, collected within floating
boom, then skimmed from the water surface. Other
common treatment methods included cold-water
flushing of beaches, manual beach cleaning (by
hand or with absorbent pom-poms), bioremediation
(application of fertilizers to stimulate growth
of local bacteria, which degrade oil), and the
mechanical relocation of oiled sediments to
places where they could be cleaned by wave and
tide action.
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High-Pressure, Hot-Water Washing II
15. High-Pressure, Hot-Water Washing
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Booms Preventing Oil Refloating
16. Booms Preventing Oil Refloating When crews
cleaned a beach with high-pressure, hot-water
washing, booms were used, as shown here, to
prevent oil refloated by the cleaning operations
from escaping back into Prince William Sound.
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Sediment Plume and Sheens
17. Sediment Plume and Sheens A brown sediment
plume and sheens of refloated oil drift away from
this oiled beach as it is cleaned by a team
applying high-pressure, hot-water washing.
Refloating of oil and release of sediment are
often unavoidable consequences of shoreline
cleanup that can cause additional environmental
harm.
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Block Island Before and During Washing I
18. Block Island Before and During Washing This
photo shows a section of the Block Island
coastline before treatment by high-pressure,
hot-water washing the next photo shows the same
section during high-pressure, hot-water washing.
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Block Island Before and During Washing II
18. Block Island Before and During Washing Note
the small black patch of refloated oil (next to
the inner boom, on the righthand side of the
photo) ready to be skimmed, and the brown plume
of oil and sediment drifting outwards from the
beach.
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Trenching to Measure Oil Penetration
20. Trenching to Measure Oil Penetration A
researcher digs a trench in an oiled beach in
order to determine the depth of oil penetration.
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Cleanup Debris
21. Cleanup Debris Bags of Exxon Valdez cleanup
debris await disposal. Much of the debris
collected during the Exxon Valdez cleanup was
eventually deposited in a landfill in Oregon
State, the closest facility certified to properly
handle the waste.
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References