Letter | Don’t forget lessons from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, ecological disaster
Don’t forget lessons from the Exxon Valdez
At 12:09, March 24 1989, the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker, broke up off the coast of Alaska. Eleven million gallons of toxic crude oil spilled onto a pristine coast.
Soon, 1,000 miles of that coast was impacted. The congressman I worked for at the time was a member of the Water Resources Sub-Committee of the Public Works and Transportation Committee. That sub-committee had oversight of the clean up.
It was a mess.
The coast is still not totally clean. Many species of animals have not recovered. Generally, the after action report blamed human error and fatigue.
In my opinion, off shore exploration, drilling and the on-shore industrialization that goes with it is too risky for South Carolina.
Jim Watkins
Pawleys Island
This story was originally published April 23, 2015 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Letter | Don’t forget lessons from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, ecological disaster."