1. 1. Exxon valdez oil spill
2. 2. What happened??
   • The Exxon Valdez oil spill ocurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, hit Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled an estimated minimum 10.8 million US gallons (40.9 million litres, or 250,000 barrels) of crude oil. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur in history. As significant as the Valdez spill was -- the largest ever in US waters -- it ranks well down on the list of the world's largest oil spills in terms of volume released.
3. 3. Almost 20 years after the spill, a team of scientists at the University of North Carolina found that the effects are lasting far longer than expected. The team estimates some shoreline Arctic habitats may take up to 30 years to recover. Exxon Mobil denies any concerns over this, stating that they anticipated a remaining fraction that they assert will not cause any long-term ecological impacts, according to the conclusions of 350 peer-reviewed studies. However, a study from scientists from the NOAA concluded that this contamination can produce chronic low-level exposure, discourage subsistence where the contamination is heavy, and decrease the "wilderness character" of the area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill
4. 4. Gulf of mexico oil spill
5. 5. What happened??'
   • The damage from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will exceed $5 billion
   • An explosion which caused the oil spill ripped through the Deepwater Horizon, some 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, on April 20. The blast claimed the lives of 11 people who were working on the rig and injured other 17. The rig sunk two days later, with oil continuing spilling out into the sea.
   • The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico has reportedly reached the coast of Louisiana, where a state of emergency has been declared, and is approaching Florida and Alabama.
   • U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Louisiana on Sunday to supervise clean-up operations. He said the British Petroleum company, which operated the Deepwater Horizon rig, would have to cover the damage caused by the oil spill.
   • On Sunday, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) imposed a ban on fishing in U.S. coastal waters.
   • Some 6,000 U.S. National Gu ard troops have been involved in clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
6. 6.
   • The accident, which is seen as a challenge to Obama's plans to build more oil rigs along the Atlantic shore, poses a major threat to the Gulf of Mexico's flora and fauna. The Gulf, which hosts some 4,000 drilling platforms, is home to many endangered animal species.
   • MOSCOW, May 3 (RIA Novosti)
   • Taken FRom :
   • http://en.rian.ru/world/20100503/158855931.html