THE HEALTH of the ecology, if not of the human condition, is on its way to recovery since the nightmare oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound 10 years ago today.
Oil-soaked otters and dying waterfowl that embodied the ecological horror of the ruptured tanker Exxon Valdez are no longer seen. A $2.2 billion cleanup effort scrubbed off much of the oleaginous shroud from the shores of the scenic sound. Tanker navigation rules were tightened, training increased, oil-skimming equipment and emergency teams put in place.
Yet the threat of another such tanker disaster won't disappear. Oil tanker traffic along the frigid coastline is heavier, even if spills are less common and extensive. The efficacy of stockpiled cleanup equipment is questioned. The company responsible for emergency response has cut its staff.
Most important, Exxon and others are still shipping tons of oil in the same fragile, 1,000-foot-long vessels with hulls only an inch thick. Safer double-hulled tankers for Alaskan waters are required by law in 2015, but no one is rushing to beat that deadline. Only three double-hulls are in use in those waters, the same number as in 1989.
Conversion to double-hulls is expensive, perhaps $150 million per tanker. But so are devastating tanker oil spills that despoil shorelines, destroy animal life and leave behind a toxic residue.
Only 2 of 28 species have fully recovered from the 1989 spill that coated 1,500 miles of coast. Only 4 percent of the 11 million gallons of spilled oil was recovered, a government report calculates. Fishing towns have seen a continuing downturn in herring catches; Alaska natives struggle to find seals and shellfish for traditional diets.
Exxon paid $300 million to affected fishermen and communities, plus $1 million to settle government claims. But it is still appealing a $5 billion punitive judgment in federal court. And an Exxon subsidiary is seeking to return the Valdez -- under its new name -- to the Prince William fleet.
Other projects, including the aging Trans-Alaska Pipeline, as well as plans for the first undersea Arctic oil pipeline and oil leases on federal lands, raise fears of another ecological catastrophe.
The tanker spill prompted a 1990 law providing unlimited legal liability for companies involved in oil spills. Response and prevention efforts have increased.
Yet fears remain, like the toxic oil globs hidden under beach rocks and in the depths of Alaska's coastal seas.