how a massive oil spill triggered an environmental Catastrophe by Michael Burgan Exxon Valdez
Chapter One THE BIG ONE COMES In the small town of Valdez Alaska a group of about 30 residents crowded around a speakerphone in a local government office It was Thursday evening March 23 1989 and the Easter weekend was about to begin On the other end of the line was Riki Ott an expert in marine science Like many of the people in Valdez and other small towns along Alaska’s Prince William Sound she also fished Salmon and herring filled the waters of the sound Fishing was an important part of the local economy the money fishers made selling their catch helped businesses stay open The sound was also home to bald eagles and other birds that caught the fish for food along with sea otters sea lions orcas and other mammals Many of these animals also relied on the fish to survive Another natural resource besides fish had become important to the local economy and to Alaska as a whole In June 1977 oil had begun flowing from Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay above the Arctic Circle through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System TAPS For 800 miles 1,287 kilometers the pipeline crosses some of the coldest and most isolated parts of the United States Finally the oil reaches the Valdez Marine Terminal There it is loaded on giant ships called tankers which take the oil to be turned into gasoline and other petroleum-based products
Oil storage tanks lined the shore of the harbor in Valdez Alaska when oil began flowing through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1977 Many fishers on Prince William Sound along with some indigenous Alaska people had opposed the building of the pipeline and the terminal They feared an oil spill could ruin their way of life For the native Alaskans that included hunting sea mammals that lived in the sound as well as catching fish But with backing from the U S government several oil companies were able to drill for the oil buried beneath the frozen Arctic land and transport it to other states The fear of an oil spill and pollution from the Valdez Marine Terminal had not faded in the years after TAPS opened Ships leaving the terminal sometimes had accidents even though a major spill hadn’t occurred Riki Ott was one of the people worried about a spill She could not attend the meeting in Valdez on March 23 because bad weather had made it impossible to fly there from her home in the small fishing town of Cordova on Prince William Sound No roads linked the two communities so flying would have been the fastest way there
