A Third of Valdez Spill Area Still Oily
Oil still fouls one-third of the beaches hit by last year’s Exxon Valdez spill, according to reports Wednesday by the oil company and federal officials.
Oil was found on 358.3 miles of shoreline during a survey of 1,062 miles of beaches struck by oil last year in Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island, Exxon said in a progress report to federal and state cleanup coordinators. Most of the shores are lightly oiled.
An assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration supported the Exxon analysis even though the numbers differed slightly, apparently because Exxon was faster than the government in processing data sent in by beach survey crews, said Burl Wescott of the NOAA.
Alaska spill coordinator Randy Bayliss said the state had no dispute with the findings of how much oil remained.
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