Exxon Valdez disaster: 25 years on 'there's still resentment'

Описание: Twenty five years ago the Exxon Valdez tanker carrying 53 million gallons of crude oil struck a reef off the coast of Alaska.
Within hours nearly eleven million gallons of thick, toxic oil were discharged into the waters of Prince William Sound, devastating local wildlife along 1,300 miles of shoreline.
The images of sea otters, herrings and birds soaked soaked in black oil flashed across the globe as rescue workers painstakingly fought to save them and their habitat.
Today the region, its people and its wildlife are still recovering and in some cases, struggling. The spill created a slick that fouled the sea and shoreline, killing unknown quantities of animals and plants.
Bernie Culbertson was preparing to fish cod when the Exxon Valdez ran aground. With oil in the water, fishing came to a standstill.
His livelihood and that of many of other fishermen was badly hit in the years that followed. Pink salmon that sold for 80 cents per pound fell to 8 cents per pound. Mr Consumers turned to farm fish or tuna out of fear of tainted salmon. Culbertson's boat caught 2.5 million lbs of pink salmon one season and still lost money. Not to be defeated he turned to other fisheries, travelling as far as California.
Exxon compensation cheques, minus what fishermen earned on spill work, arrived too late for many.
"There's resentment, sure. But you don't live on resentment. You know, the people who put everything on getting taken care of.
"You know, Exxon said they would make us well. Their mouth was moving. If you've been around, you knew they were lying. If you watched the show, you knew they were lying. They were just pouring money, and propaganda and things, so you knew there was a big level of BS [lying] going on. And those that fell for it suffered," says Mr Culbertson

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