Exxon+Valdez+Thaddeus

The Exxon Valdez

During my two day holiday I did some research about oil spills. I read a book that I checked out at the library that is very interesting. The book that I read was about a terrible oil spill in Alaska. This oil spill was called the Exxon Valdez disaster that spilled more than 11 million gallons of gooey black oil poured into the ocean. This oil spill spilled into the ocean on the 24th of march, 1989. I focused a lot on what happened after the spill and how it effected the wildlife. This really effected birds because they did not know that the water was covered in oil, so when they dive into the water all of the feathers that keep them warm get cold oil on them, the birds do not know that the oil is poisonous and the only way to clean it is to suck the oil of his/her feathers,Then they get poisoned by oil. Most birds either got killed by getting to cold or poison. Sea otters also got effected by the spill because they too do not know that the oil is there

**What is the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill?**

The Exxon Valdez incident was a major oil spill. This oil spill took place on March 23, 1989 at Prince William

Sound in Alaska.

**How did it happen?**

The drivers of the Exxon Valdez noticed icebergs in their planned route. Instead of trying to weave through

the icebergs, they decided to go in another direction. On the new route, the oil tanker hit shallow land. The

shallow land was not a beach, it was called Bligh Reef.

Imagine an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The Exxon Valdez spilled about 125 Olympic-sized swimming

pools. You also can think of it as 108 homes or 430 classrooms. 797 living rooms or 9 school gyms can

explain about how much oil was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

**How did the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill affect the animals at Prince William Sound?**

The Exxon Valdez affected many animals at Prince William Sound in Alaska. The spill greatly affected sea

otters and sea birds. There were about 2,800 sea otters and 250,000 seabirds killed by the spill. Harbor

seals, bald eagles, killer whales, and salmon were also greatly affected by the spill.

Many people complained about the large amount of sea otters dumped in crude oil because Prince William

Sound was a tourist attraction. Many people came to Prince William Sound to visit the animals.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">**How many animals are recovering after ten years?**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">The table below shows all the animals that are not recovering, recovered, recovering, and that the

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">recovering is unknown. It shows that only two species had recovered ten years after the spill. It also shows

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">how many animals are still recovering ten years later. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">**How long did it take to clean the up spill?**
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Not Recovering Animals || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Recovered Animals || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Recovering Animals || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Recovering is unknown ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Common Loon || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Bald eagle || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Black oystercatcher || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Cutthroat trout ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Cormorant || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">River otter || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Common murre || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Dolly Varden ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Harbor Seal ||  || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Marbled murrelett || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Kittlitz murrelet ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Harlequin Duck ||  || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Mussel || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Rockfish ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Killer Whale ||  || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Pacific Herring ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Pigeon Quillemont ||  || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Pink Salmon ||   ||
 * ||  || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Sea otter ||   ||
 * ||  || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Sockeye Salmon ||   ||

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> Because the spill impacted 1,300 miles, it took the Exxon Valdez Company four summers to clean up the

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> spill. Some oil may still remain on the beaches. It took 10,000 workers, 1,000 boats, 100

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> airplanes, and the Navy, Army, and Air Force to clean up the spill. Exxon spent about $2.1

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> billion for the clean up.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> **The oil flow of the Exxon Valdez**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> Look at the diagram below. This diagram shows where the oil flowed and how far it flowed through Alaska.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> The map also tells you where the oil spill started in Alaska, which would be in Prince William Sound. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> __Day 11__ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> 140 miles <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> __Day 15__ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> 180 miles <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> __Day 19__ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> 250 miles <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> __Day 38__ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> 280 miles ||
 * [[image:http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/Oilmap.jpg width="492" height="360" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;">__Day 7__ 90 miles
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;"> __Day 56__ __Day 40__ 470 miles 350 miles || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;">GREEN=The oil STAR=Prince William Sound ||

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">**What is a doubled hulled ship?** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">A doubled-hulled ship is used for taking oil from one place to
 * [[image:http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/doublehull.jpg width="339" height="176" align="center"]] ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; text-align: center;">A Doubled Hulled Ship ||

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> another. This boat contains two layers. One layer is where

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> the oil is stored. Another layer surrounds it. If there were a

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> crack in the boat, it wouldn’t have a large affect on the

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> animals because not that much oil would spill as if it was a

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> regular tanker. The crack would have to go through another

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> layer in order to get to the oil.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> Look at the diagram to the left, and it will give you an idea of

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> what a doubled-hulled ship looks like. As you see, the boat has two layers. The middle layer holds all the

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;"> oil. When there is a crack in the outer layer, it won’t cause any oil to spill out.
 * [[image:http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/singlehull.jpg width="373" height="200" align="center"]] ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; text-align: center;">An Oil Tanker ||

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">If you look at the regular tanker to the right, you will see

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">that there only has to be one crack in the tanker in order to

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">leak. This shows that a doubled-hulled ship will not have

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">such a large chance of causing a spill.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">**Why didn’t the Exxon Valdez have a double hull?**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">If the Exxon Valdez were a doubled-hulled ship, the chance

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">of an oil spill would be 60% smaller. They wouldn’t have a

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">great spill in the ocean.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">If the chances of a spill would be much smaller, why didn’t the Exxon Valdez buy a doubled-hulled ship? A

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">doubled-hulled ship costs $300,000,000 in America. A regular oil tanker costs about $200,000,000. The

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">Exxon company decided to wait until the year 2015 in order to buy a doubled-hulled ship. The Law says

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; line-height: 120%;">that every tanker must be a double hull ship by 2015.