The 1989 oil spill from the grounding of the oil tanker
Exxon Valdez, still the largest such spill in U.S. history,
is infamous for the devastation it caused to the fragile
marine wildlife in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The
tanker spilled approximately 11 million gallons of its 53-
million-gallon cargo of crude oil, killing an estimated
900 bald eagles, 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300
harbor seals and uncounted fish and invertebrates. Massive
cleanup efforts removed much of the visible crude
oil within a year, but the slow release of the remaining
oil has continued to affect populations of local marine
plants and animals to this day.