Abstract
WHEN THE EXXON VALDEZ oil tanker ran aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound in March 1989, it released 11 million gal of crude oil into a vibrant coastal ecosystem. Based on other oil spills, environmental experts envisioned that the affected areas would recover within a few years following the initial cleanup and biodegradation of most of the residual oil. Although ExxonMobil and some scientists monitoring the long-term effects of the spill believe this recovery has happened, a new review of Prince William Sound research projects concludes that, while not immediately visible, a surprising amount of oil from the Valdez persists in some shoreline sediments [ Science , 302 , 2082 (2003)]. The review, led by ecologist Charles H. Peterson of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, suggests that the toxicity stemmingprimarilyfrompolyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the oil continues to affect the recovery of sea otters and some birds in places where the oil ...
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