What is Exxon Valdez oil spill?
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill}} [[File:Exval.jpeg|right|thumb|250px|The ''[[Exxon Valdez]]'', three days after it hit the reef]] [[File:OilCleanupAfterValdezSpill.jpg|right|thumb|250px|People trying to clean up some rocks after the spill]] The '''''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill''' was a [[shipping]] [[accident]] that happened off the coast of the [[United States]] on March 24, 1989. An [[oil tanker]], the ''Exxon Valdez'', hit a [[reef]] in [[Prince William Sound]], [[Alaska]]. At the time of the disaster, the ship carried 53,094,510 [[U.S. gallons]] (44,210,430 imp gal/200,984,600 [[litre|L]]) of [[crude oil]]. The accident caused a massive [[oil spill]]: 10.8 million U.S.&nbsp;gallons (9.0 million&nbsp;imp&nbsp;gal/41 million&nbsp;L) were spilled into the Prince William Sound. It was one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in the history of the United States.<ref>Lee, Douglas B. August 1989. Tragedy in Alaska waters. ''National Geographic'' '''176''', 2. pp. 260–263.</ref> The ship had left the [[Trade route|shipping lanes]] because of [[iceberg]]s. The ship never returned to the shipping lane and hit [[Bligh Reef]] at around 12:04 AM. Later, people looked at the causes, and found that the people on board were badly trained and overworked. What made things worse was the fact that the government was not prepared to handle a disaster with such large consequences for the environment. This disaster badly [[wikt:damage|damaged]] the [[ecosystem]]s of the area. An estimated 21,300 fish died after being poisoned by the crude oil. The birds that ate the fish got sick. Some of the methods tried to clean up the oil were: burning, mechanical cleaning, and chemical dispersants. == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:1989 disasters]] [[Category:1989 in the United States]] [[Category:20th century in Alaska]] [[Category:Transport disasters in the United States]]