El
Exxon Valdez venía cargado de petróleo cuando empezó
a perderlo frente a Prince William Sound,
en Alaska. El año: 1989, y la
situación: una verdadera tragedia para el medio ambiente. Al décimo día de la
pérdida las maniobras de limpieza recién empezaban. Unas pocas cuadrillas en
unas cuantas playas sacaban un poco de aceite pero había miles y miles de
costas afectadas. El Exxon gastó 3, 8
billones para la limpieza pero las cuadrillas solo rascaron la superficie. “Oficiales
gubernamentales han hecho un recuento de los sucedido con la pérdida que ahora
cubre un área de 3.000 millas cuadradas.”
I want to assure
everyone that Exxon is mobilizing all
available resources to mitigate the impact from this incident. Exxon has assumed full financial
responsibility for the incident…
 |
| Prince William Sound |
The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, March 24, 1989, when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, 1.5
mi (2.4 km) west of Tatitlek, Alaska,
at 12:04 a.m. and spilled 10.8 million US
gallons (or 37,000 metric tons) of crude oil over the next few days. It
is considered the worst oil spill worldwide in terms of damage to the
environment.
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill | Flashback | NBC News
It's been 25
years since millions of gallons of oil poured into Prince William Sound after the
Exxon Valdez ran aground in the waters of Alaska.
—This should
have been the easiest spill in the world to clean up.
—It´s not only
the worst oil spill in the US history,
it´s by far the largest in such a remote pristine area. The tanker, the Exxon Valdez, had just loaded more
than a million barrels of Alaskan crude.
It was about 25 miles from the Valdez
terminal and was apparently trying to dodge ice floats from the nearby
Columbia glacier when it ran aground.
—I want to
assure everyone that Exxon is
mobilizing all available resources to mitigate the impact from this incident. Exxon has assumed full financial
responsibility for the incident. (Frank Iarossi, President Exxon Shipping)
—Exxon has come under heavy criticism for
not moving more rapidly to clean up the spill.
The crews have
not arrived yet to begin cleaning the slime off the islands, beaches and rocks
that probably won´t happen until next week. Exxon
says it cannot do the job in a hasty haphazard manner. (George Lewis, Seal Island, Alaska)
—There is no
doubt this is a major tragedy, tragedy both for the environment and for the people
up there. (George Bush)
—Day 10 of the
oil spill crisis and the cleanup efforts still just beginning. A few crews are
on a few beaches removing a little bit of oil but there are hundreds of miles
of affected coastline. Exxon, which
is running the operation, is coming under heavy criticism from state and
federal officials.
—Where the
existing management structure of this cleanup is not adequate to the test, then
we´re going to do it ourselves, independent of that. (Gov. Steve Cowper, Alaska)
—State officials
in Alaska have made an accounting of
what´s happened to the spill now covering an area of over 3,000 square miles. Exxon has had problems not only with its
recovery efforts but also with the continued leakage of oil from its crippled
tanker. Officials say a small amount of oil still seeps from the holes of
the ship and containment booms around the vessel are not stopping it
completely.
—This is one of
the many small armies Exxon has
mobilized to wipe out oil soaked beaches stone by stone.
J. Hare,
president of the National Wildlife
Federation, watched the work for a while and then just muttered:
—I appreciate
these folks doing this but quite frankly I don’t see it´s doing a lot of good
here.
—Hare calls this
futile and he says oil rubbed into the rocks will take longer to evaporate. He
intends to push for a new national energy policing, hoping that a national
sense of outrage will add to his political muscle.
After the Exxon Valdez ran aground Exxon spent 3, 8 billion dollars on cleanup
but the crews only scratched the surface.
—If you just let
the water stand for even just a minute then the oil blobs, will start to show.
—Still there 21
years after the spill. (Reporting: Dan Molina, Valdez, Alaska)
25 years later
less than half the wildlife population has returned.
Para saber
Prince William Sound is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is
Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
Vocabulario
Run aground: Of a ship, to crash into and get stuck on a shore,
reef, or bottom of a body of water.
"The reef has
caused many ships to run aground over the years."
Dodge: avoid (someone
or something) by a sudden quick movement.
"Marchers
had to dodge missiles thrown by loyalists."
Slime: an unpleasantly
thick and slippery liquid substance.
"The cold
stone was wet with slime."
Crippled: (of a machine) severely damaged.
"The pilot
displayed skill and nerve in landing the crippled plane."
Seep: (of a liquid)
flow or leak slowly through porous material or small holes.
"Water
began to seep through the soles of his boots."
Boom (containment): A containment boom is a temporary floating barrier used to contain an
oil spill.
Mutter: say something in
a low or barely audible voice, especially in dissatisfaction or irritation.
"He muttered
something under his breath."
In geography, a sound
is a large sea or ocean inlet, deeper than a bight (a bent) and wider than a fjord.
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Aquí iniciamos el archivo: El desastre del Exxon Valdez
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