Human consequences
Fishing and Indigenous communities lose their livelihoods for years.
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IndustrialExxon Valdez oil spill
0Deaths
Not quantifiedDisplaced / homeless
Not quantifiedEstimated cost
- No direct human casualties, but about 250,000 seabirds killed.
The tanker runs aground on a reef and spills about 41,000 m³ of crude oil into a famously rich subarctic ecosystem. The oil fouls nearly 2,100 km of coastline.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
Orcas, sea otters and salmon are badly affected; oil remains buried in the beaches decades later.
Economic consequences
Exxon spends about 2 billion dollars on the clean-up; the herring fishery collapses.
Political consequences
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 gradually makes double hulls mandatory for tankers.
Further reading
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