This Day in History

On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef and proceeded to disgorge 11 million gallons of North Slope crude oil into the beautiful waters of Prince William Sound. It was Good Friday and by some strange cosmic coincidence the tragedy occurred almost exactly 25 years after the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964, an incredible Magnitude 9.2 event (the strongest ever recorded in North America) that sent tsunamis radiating outward from the epicenter near Valdez, all the way to Hawaii and claiming lives as far away as California. Among the monumental damage it caused, the quake destroyed an asphalt storage plant in Valdez and spilled enough asphalt to cover 30 percent of the Port Valdez Fjord.

The anniversary of the Exxon Valdez catastrophe comes on the heels of yet another major disaster -- what is being called the largest-ever spill on the North Slope. Earlier this month, a corroded feeder section of pipeline owned by BP burst and sent more than 200,000 gallons of crude seeping across the tundra. The accident went unnoticed for days and sub-freezing temperatures made repairs, let alone clean up, difficult.

The latest spill gives the lie to blithe claims by the oil industry that their business can be carried out safely and securely, with little or no environmental consequence. In fact, the event has only served to heighten concerns about the aging Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Next year the 800-mile-long main section of the TAP will turn 30 and many are now voicing concerns about its safety. In addition to corrosion and other "natural" threats like forest fires, the pipeline remains extremely vulnerable to sabotage and terrorist attack.

The oil industry and its supporters in government downplay these concerns, much as they downplayed the situation 17 years ago when the single-hulled Exxon Valdez was gushing crude. At the time, even before Exxon had mobilized any kind of spill response in the Sound, a spokesman for the company told the press that it did not expect major environmental damage as a result of the spill.

Today, it is remembered as the worst environmental disaster in American history.