More than a dozen years after an Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil, nearly 10,000 gallons of the oil remain buried under the shoreline. The lingering oil was documented during a three-month field study last summer; the study’s results were presented this week during the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council’s annual workshop. The study found that the oil is still harming wildlife: Sea otters are suffering liver damage, harlequin ducks have hydrocarbons in their guts, and overall numbers of both populations are in decline. Species that forage on the nearby sea floor also show evidence of harm. An ExxonMobil spokesperson, however, denied that the spill is continuing to damage wildlife in the area.
