Almost 15 years ago, the Exxon Valdez made headlines by spilling more than 11 million gallons of oil off the coast of Alaska.  On January 28, 2004, a federal judge ordered ExxonMobil to pay almost $7 billion in damages to the 32,000 Alaskan residents and fisherman impacted by the spill.  Needless to say, ExxonMobil is appealing the decision. It is attempting to downplay its responsibility for the spill the same way it continually denies its role in the global warming crisis. In his decision, Judge Holland called ExxonMobil "reckless, corporate officials."

Since this disaster, little has been done to ensure the tragedy would not be repeated.  The Prestige, a 26 year-old single-hulled oil tanker, sank on November 13th, 2002, spilling an estimated 17 million gallons of heavy fuel oil into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Northern Spain. More than one year later, the beaches of Spain are still feeling the destructive effects and international governing bodies still have not fully addressed how our dependence on fossil fuels puts us at risk for future disasters.

In a new report entitled, The Prestige Disaster, One Year On, Greenpeace reviews the year following the nearly 1,250 miles of coastline that were destroyed by heavy fuel oil in one of the worst wildlife disasters in history.

Tragically, the Prestige disaster is only one example of the many threats we face from the oil and gas industry. Offshore seismic testing and drilling for oil and natural gas, drilling in nationally protected areas and beaches, and the heavy pollution they cause are not a necessary part of our world. Cleaner energy technologies are making our world safer from avoidable tragedies, such as the Prestige and Exxon Valdez oil spills. For more information on the impacts of oil on our environment and health visit www.killthedrill.org.

Single-Hulled Tankers

The Prestige was an aging single-hulled tanker built in 1976. Built cheaply and quickly, this type of ship is one of the most vulnerable to oil spills from collisions or grounding. A violent storm is believed to have damaged existing cracks in the hull, allowing water to flood the empty ballast tanks. Unlike modern tankers, single-hulled tankers lack a protective second barrier that can resist punctures that cause 70 percent of major oil spills. The end result was the added weight from the water snapping the Prestige into two pieces, each sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

A Continuing Risk

Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, the U.S. Congress enacted the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which calls for a ban on single-hulled tankers in U.S. waters by 2015. Today, single-hulled tankers are still much more common than double-hulled ships.