Thirty years ago, on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska. At the time, it was the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Only the 2010 Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has eclipsed it.
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, March 24, 1989
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FILE - Thick crude oil washed up on the cobble beach of Evans Island sticks to the boots and pants of a local fisherman in Prince William Sound, Alaska, April 11, 1989.
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FILE - A local fisherman inspects a dead California gray whale on the northern shore of Latoucha Island, Alaska, April 9, 1989. Wildlife experts later determined that the whale died before the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on March 24.
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FILE - Steve Provant, Alaska's on-scene clean-up co-ordinator, examines oily rocks on Green Island, June 25, 1989, in Prince William Sound. The Coast Guard, which is overseeing Exxon's clean-up effort, declaring crews had "completed removal of gross contamination." But the oil came back.