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Big oil spills do less long-term damage than once thought International scientific conference says the long-accepted idea that it takes the environment decades to recover from large oil spills is not borne out by scientific findings from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill Hal Spencer Associated Press Writer
Ecosystems damaged by three massive oil spills in the past decade — including the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound — have made relatively rapid recovery, government and industry scientists said.
That contention, made at the 1999 International Oil Spill Conference, drew heated reaction from Alaskans still monitoring the impact of the 11 million-gallon spill in Prince William Sound in 1989 — 10 years ago this month.
But the panel of scientists said ecosystems bounced back remarkably well following the Alaska spill, the 24 million-gallon spill of the tanker Braer off the Shetland Islands in 1993 and the 21 million-gallon spill of the Sea Empress off Wales in 1996. Science, advocacy don’t mix The presentation angered the Alaska activists, who questioned the scientists’ work and their motives.
“There are a great many sides and agendas and advocacy positions, but you have to abandon all that” to properly assess environmental damage from oil spills, said panelist John Wiens, a Colorado State University professor who conducted studies for Exxon on the Alaska spill’s impact on fish and wildlife.
“Science and advocacy don’t mix,” he said March 9.
During a question-and-answer session following the presentation, Riki Ott of Cordova, Alaska, a biologist and active critic of the industry’s post-spill performance in her state, suggested the panelists’ findings were the product of mixing science and allegiance to the oil industry.
“I find it hard to believe” the findings of rapid post-spill recovery were scientifically objective, said Ott, one of several Alaskans attending the four-day conference as the “Alaska Truth Squad.”
Ott and others said there is much scientists still don’t know, citing possible genetic damage to herring and salmon populations. Panelists included non-industry scientists “Do you think we could have a more productive discussion ... rather than question the integrity of the scientists?” retorted panel moderator Ian White, managing director of the London-based International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.
Essentially, the panel — which included non-industry scientists such as Rebecca Hoff of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Seattle office and Paul Kingston of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland — said the long-accepted idea that it takes the environment decades to recover from large oil spills is not borne out by scientific findings so far. Recovery complete in four to five years Following all three events, the vast majority of affected plant life, intertidal organisms, fish, wildlife and birds recovered quickly — and most of the populations had recovered within four or five years, they said.
The scientists measured recovery by a method they called “parallelism” — comparing life in oiled areas with that of non-oiled areas in the same ecosystem over an extended period.
The comparisons determined that “recovery is generally rapid,” Wiens said. The idea that it takes decades or centuries “is not borne out.”
Kingston said in the case of the Shetland Islands spill, the people and economy suffered far more from publicity about the spill than from its actual effects.
Shetland Islanders resented “press pollution” far more than the oil pollution, he said.
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