Legacy of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
A special feature published by
the Anchorage Daily News.
March 21-24, 1999

For a complete history of the Exxon Valdez oil spill see Hard Aground, for archival news stories, photos and reference material.

Snow-clad Knight Island remains in winter's grip earlier this month in a view taken from above Knight Island Passage. Oil still can be found in places on Knight Island, one of the largest of several Prince William Sound islands caught in the path of the 1989 spill.

Eleven million gallons of oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez. Some of it was dispersed, but much of it washed ashore in places like Smith Island, where this photo was taken.

Oil spill workers use pressure washers to clean oil from the beach on Smith Island in Prince William Sound. The oil was impounded in the water off of the beach and skimmed from the water.

Exxon Valdez, March 1989.

Dead sea otter coated with crude oil from the spill was found on the beach of Green Island in the Sound.

Biologists round up harlequin ducks near Disk Island in August 1997 to implant transmitters so the ducks can be tracked. The scientists have been conducting studies trying to determine why female harlequin ducks are not surviving winters in parts of the Sound.