Photo Essay

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Clean up workers use high powered hot water wash to clean beaches in 1989.



Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup workers used a pressurized hot water wash as the primary treatment for beaches in 1989. The spray aerosolized the oil and created a health risk for workers. Photo by Michele Hahn O'Leary.



Many cleanup workers were housed on boats such as Alaska state ferry. Workers commuted to beaches in skiffs, tied to ferry. Oil vapors, evaporating from the surface oil slick, posed a health risk to workers. Photo by Michelle Hahn O'Leary.



NOAA scientists found unexpectedly high levels of oil from Exxon's spill buried under beaches in the biologically-rich intertidal zone. NOAA scientists estimate it will take at least another 20 years to naturally degrade. Photo above by Dave Janka. Photo below by NOAA Auke Bay Lab.

Federal laws do not protect sealife from low levels of oil that can kill, maim, and impair reproduction of pink salmon and Pacific herring, according to NOAA scientists. Photo by NOAA Auke Bay Lab

A cleanup worker without a respirator sprays Exxon's product, Corexit 9580M2, on a test beach. This product was later banned because of concerns for wildlife. Smith Island, Prince William Sound, August 8, 1989. Alaska State Archives, ARLIS photo

In 1993, the Pacific herring fishery unexpectedly collapsed in Prince William Sound and has not recovered. Herring are an essential part of the coastal food web and an important fishery. The Prince William Sound herring fisheries are closed indefinitely. Photo by Mike O'Leary

Book summary by chapter (long)
Book summary by chapter (short)
Sound Truth Tip Sheet
Dr. Ott resume
Exxon's partial release form for cleanup workers