# data[].attributes.body
History.com Editors. (2018, March 9). Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. HISTORY; HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/exxon-valdez-oil-spill

Greenpeace. (2017, February 2). GIPHY; GIPHY. https://giphy.com/gifs/rex-greenpeace-oil-spill-26gsljYbyefwFcqru

Leahy, S. (2019, March 22). Exxon Valdez changed the oil industry forever—but new threats emerge. Environment; National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/oil-spills-30-years-after-exxon-valdez

‌
“See? Its environmentally stabilized . The oil spill poses no further threat to these fish and wild life” | Etta Hulme Cartoon Archive. (1989, September 13). Uta.edu. https://libraries.uta.edu/ettahulme/image/20108245

‌

# data[].attributes.body
Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the U.S. Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The OPA of 1990 increased penalties for companies responsible for oil spills and required that all oil tankers in United States have a double hull. Exxon Valdez was a single-hulled tanker. Double-hull designs may have prevented the Exxon Valdez disaster, (Etta Hulme Cartoon Archive, 1989).

# data[].attributes.body
Exxon funded nearly $2 billion in cleanup costs and $1.8 billion for habitat restoration and damages related to the spill, (Leahy, 2019).

# data[].attributes.body
Thousands of people worked together to save the wildlife affected by this event. 250,000 seabirds, 3,000 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, 22 killer whales, and billions of salmon eggs were lost. The deaths of these creature not only affected undisturbed wildlife, but caused serious economic hardships.

Decreased populations of pacific herring forced a collapser market for local fisherman. These business went bankrupt.

The economies of small shoreline towns, like Valdez and Cordova, suffered for years, (History.com, 2018).

# data[].attributes.body
Why?

Various factors made this oil spill a grueling event. The size of the spill and remote location was only accessible by helicopter and boat. This made government and industry efforts difficult and challenged existing plans for handling this type of disaster, (History.com, 2018).

# data[].attributes.body
Species of whales, fish, and other wildlife are still recovering from the damage caused by this devastating oil spill.

# data[].attributes.body
Who, What, Where?

On March 24, 1989, Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by the Exxon Shipping Company, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The ship hit Bligh Reef, a well-known navigation hazard in Prince William Sound. 1,300 miles of coastline were covered killing hundreds of thousands of seabirds, otters, seals and whales, and leaving long-lasting effects 30 years later, (Leahy, 2019).