Having paddled right near where the Exxon Valdez once went aground, I pretty much figured that the sound had largely recovered from that awful accident. I was wrong. Turns out that wildlife in Alaska’s Prince William Sound is still threatened by the oil spill from when the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989.
According to a new study by the National Marine Fisheries Service, some 100 tons of oil still pollute the sound shoreline and potentially affect foraging sea otters and ducks. These populations have been slow to recover, despite the “good news” from an Exxon study that the sound “has recovered, it’s healthy and it’s thriving.” Exxon paid at least $900 million toward Valdez cleanup, but has refused to pay $4.5 billon in punitive damages related to the spill.