disaster in the world, but it was certainly one of the worst.Cleaning the beaches was difficult:10,000 people, 1,000 boats, and 100 planes and helicopters helped in this long job.But even today some beaches still have oil on them.
The Exxon oil company spent about 2.1 billion dollars on the job of cleaning the beaches.But many scientists now think that sea water hitting the beaches wildly during winter storms did most of the cleaning.
After the accident the Exxon Valdez got a new name; Sea River Mediterranea.It still carries oil across the Atlantic, but the law says it can never go back to Alaska.
What has changed? Now, when tankers leave Valdez full of oil, two boats go with them. They can help if there is problem. There are also lots of machines ready to take away the oil after an accident. They can take 46,500.000 litres of oil off the top of the water in seventy-two hours. And every year people practise what to do if there is another oil tanker disaster. Nobody wants another accident in Alaska like the Exxon Valdez, but if an accident does happen, they will be ready to stop so much oil going onto the beaches, and kining birds and sea animals.