| WASHINGTON
- March 24 - A decade after the Exxon Valdez spilled eleven million gallons of oil into
Prince William Sound, Big Oil continues to threaten Alaska and America’s
Arctic, according to a report released by the U.S. Public Interest Research
Group, the Alaska Wilderness League, Sierra Club, and Defenders of Wildlife.
The report, Preventing the Next Valdez, documents the unbelievable devastation
caused by the wreck of the Exxon Valdez, and highlights oil industry practices that threaten to repeat the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.
"Today we call on Congress to stop America’s Arctic from becoming Exxon’s
Arctic," said Athan Manuel, director of the PIRG Arctic Wilderness Campaign.
"This report shows that Big Oil can't be trusted with environmentally sensitive
areas like the Arctic Refuge."
Ten years ago today, on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker hit Bligh
Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. More than 11 million gallons of crude
oil, shipped from Prudhoe Bay through the Trans Alaska Pipeline, spewed into one of the most bountiful marine ecosystems in the world. The Exxon Valdez
oil spill covered 10,000 square miles and contaminated 1,500 miles of shoreline -- about the length of California’s coast. Oil from the Valdez killed birds,
marine mammals, and fish, and devastated the ecosystem in the oil’s path.
Legislation has been introduced today by Rep. Bruce Vento of Minnesota to
permanently protect the coastal plain of the Refuge. The bill, known as the Morris K. Udall Arctic Wilderness Bill, would designate the coastal plain as a
wilderness area and permanently protect the Refuge from drilling and development.
In addition to calling on Congress to pass the Udall Arctic Wilderness bill,
PIRG called on Exxon, BP Amoco, ARCO and Chevron to cancel their drilling plans for the Arctic Refuge. The group has also filed two shareholder resolutions,
with ARCO and Chevron, calling on each company to voluntarily cancel their drilling plans.
Oil from the Valdez continues to contaminate beaches, national parks, and
wilderness areas near Prince William Sound. The Office of Technology Assessment estimated that beach cleanup and oil skimming only recovered 3
or 4% of the Exxon Valdez oil. A decade later only two species out of twenty six
the bald eagle and the river otter have recovered to pre-spill levels.
Commercial and subsistence fishers continue to suffer, and they are still
battling Exxon for damages caused by the spill.
"Since the spill, the pollution caused by Big Oil in Alaska have gotten
worse," said Manuel. "Prince William Sound has not recovered, and Prudhoe Bay is one
of the world’s largest industrial complexes. In 1997 alone approximately 500 spills occurred along Alaska’s North Slope that’s one spill every 18 hours."
Exxon, BP Amoco, ARCO, and Chevron now have their sights set on the coastal
plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The oil industry continues to lobby Congress to drill there, contributing more than $8.7 million to
congressional candidates since 1993.
The coastal plain of the Refuge is one of the most pristine areas in the U.S.,
and supports large populations of caribou, muskoxen, polar, black and brown bears, and millions of migratory birds. The Refuge is also home to the
Gwich’in, the "people of the caribou," who have lived in and around the Refuge
for thousands of years.
The report also identifies a wide variety of ticking time bombs in Alaska:
· Despite the federal law mandating double hulled oil tankers, most
tankers still have only one hull. Oil companies are trying desperately to delay replacing a fleet of ships that averages 20 years old,
· The 25-year-old Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which stretches 800
miles from the North Slope oil fields to the southern port of Valdez, is poorly operated and badly in need of repair,
· BP Amoco has plans to construct the first-ever Arctic undersea
pipeline from its offshore North Star oil well despite official estimates predicting a
1in 4 chance of a major oil spill. If the pipeline ruptures under winter ice, nothing can be done until the sea ice breaks up in the spring.
"Americans have learned one thing from the Exxon Valdez: big oil means big
pollution. That’s why they overwhelmingly oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge," concluded Manuel. "It’s time for Congress to get the message, pass
the Udall Arctic Wilderness Bill, and permanently protect the Refuge. And it’s
time for Big Oil to act like responsible corporate citizens and cancel their drilling plans for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
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U.S. PIRG is the national lobbying office for the State Public Interest
Research Groups. PIRGs are nonprofit, non-partisan consumer and environmental watchdog groups active across the country.
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