— by Chom Graecen —
25 years ago, the Exxon Valdez hit a reef and leaked oil that covered an area 25 times the size of San Juan County waters, devastating the Alaskan ecology and economy. To this day, the spilled oil still remains in Alaskan soil. Many species and commercial fishing in Prince William Sound have yet to recover fully.
Can such a nightmare happen to us here in the Salish Sea?
Potentially, and the risk is increasing.
Each year 10,000 large ships and tankers traverse the tricky waters surrounding the San Juan islands. As the dirty energy industry races to push our climate to the brink and extract coal out of Montana and Wyoming, Bakken shale oil out of North Dakota and tar sands oil out of Alberta, these fossil fuels destined for export to Asia are unfortunately converging around the Salish Sea. The proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point is just one example; there are many more. The expansion of Trans Mountain pipelines in B.C. alone will add 400 tankers per year.
Whether one believes in statistics or luck, when many massive ships loaded with dangerous fossil fuel cargo try to criss-cross around each other and the 450 islands and rocks that are the San Juan Island archipelago, the situation is like a potential ticking time bomb of Exxon Valdez proportion or possibly worse.
So how prepared are we to handle a major oil spill? Can heavy tar sands oil be contained if it sinks? Who would we call to seek help if spilled oil reaches our favorite beaches or property? Who pays for resulting damages and economic losses?
To help answer these questions, I encourage all to:
1) attend a lecture by leading experts on Lopez (Fri March 14, 7pm at the Lopez Center), Orcas (Sat March 15, 12:30pm at Orcas Episcopal Church) and San Juan (Sun March 16, 12.30pm at the San Juan Grange).
2) the award-winning film “Black Wave: the legacy of the Exxon Valdez” (Mar 18, 7pm at the SJ Grange, March 23, 3pm at the Orcas Senior Center, March 24, 7pm at the Lopez Library).
Remember the Exxon Valdez; lest it be repeated.
“Can such a nightmare happen to us here in the Salish Sea?” You bet it can! All one has to do is drive off the ferry at Anacortes to see the oil tankers off loading their Alaska crude at the refineries to think of all the nasty possibilities. I was living in Alaska at the time of the disaster. Believe me, the consequences affected more than Prince William Sound. I still have a peanut butter jar full of PWS crude coated gravel. Friend of mine scooped it up and brought it to my classroom. Bad stuff.
Thanks for posting these good questions – of course these potential spills and toxic disasters can, and will, happen. The fossil fuel industry is pushing hard to expand all over North America; keystone XL is just one small pipeline on a very big map of pipelines and terminal expansion plans, and the scariest thing (and the most economically nonsensical) is exporting this crude – oil sands, petcoke, to Asia. Oil spills are just one of the potential disasters. Others are destruction of ecosystem, ocean acidification, invasive aquatic and terrestrial species, drift of air pollution from Asia, and much more.
As a former resident of Cordova, Alaska on Prince William Sound, I appreciate any effort to remember the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Historical information, current impacts and ongoing research of the EVOS can be found at any of these websites:
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council: https://www.evostc.state.ak.us/index.cfm?FA=facts.QA
Gulf Watch Alaska: https://www.gulfwatchalaska.org/
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council: https://www.pwsrcac.org
The Oil Spill Recovery Institute (OSRI): https://www.pws-osri.org/
The Prince William Sound Science Center: https://pwssc.org
Anyone who cannot attend the lectures may find answers to their questions here:
Washington State DOE Spills Program: https://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/spills.html
The Pacific States-British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force: https://oilspilltaskforce.org
Marine Exchange of Puget Sound: https://www.marexps.com/
Washington State Maritime Cooperative: https://wsmcoop.org/about
NOAA: https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/oilaids.html
MARINE SPILL PREVENTION COOPERATION AGREEMENT Between the B.C. Ministry of Environment and the Washington Office of Marine Safety: https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp/coop/bcwashagree.htm
Western Canada Marine Response Corporation: https://wcmrc.com
Transport Canada: https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/menu-4100.htm
BC Ministry of Environment: https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp/index.htm
As devastating as the Exxon Valdez Spill has been to the communities of Alaska, I do think it is worth noting that Washington State has had it’s own share of impacts from oil spills, especially the December 22, 1988 Nestucca Oil Barge spill.
Guys! Don’t you think the risk of a ridiculous spill is worth it, for the great standard of modern living we have? Let’s hope the last few drops of oil left on the planet will give us a comfortable old age, and forget about what comes next! C’mon, Exxon Valdez? Who even remembers Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf by now? They’re fine, right? I mean, the President swam in a sheltered inlet in Florida for the press, so how bad can that have been?