Twenty years has passed since the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Bligh Reef, resulting in over 11 million gallons of spilled North Slope crude. The spill fouled beaches and marine life from Prince William Sound to the Alaska Peninsula, devastating communities and sending local economies into a tailspin. Much has changed in the past twenty years with safety improvements reducing the likelihood of such a spill ever happening again. Most tankers have double hulls and vessels are escorted out of Port Valdez to the Gulf of Alaska by powerful tugs. Detailed contingency plans for preventing and cleaning up spills are now mandatory. Citizens now have a place at the table and a mandated voice in safety planning and oversight of the Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet oil transportation.

Join us on March 24, 2009 for a multi-community commemoration with venues held in a number of the Exxon Valdez Oil spill affected communities. Events will be connected by video conferencing

Tentative events

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Participating communities will be linked by video conference, and the agenda will be set so that each community can share their presentation with others.

Tentative topics so far include an industry and citizen panel to discuss improvements in oil transportation since 1989; a reunion panel of the Legal Research Team; and a herring restoration panel.

Event venues include:
Anchorage: Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center 600 W. Seventh Avenue
Cordova:
Kenai: Challenger Learning Center  9711 Kenai Spur Highway
Seward: UAF Seward Marine Center 201 Railway Avenue
Valdez: Civic & Convention Center

Art & Book Shows

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Reflections of a Spill - The Pratt Museum in Homer hosts an art show “Reflections of a Spill” with a reception from 5pm -7pm, followed by a candlelight procession to the Bunnell Street Arts Center for a reception “Spill” featuring artists, music and readings.

SPILL is a 20th Anniversary Commemorative Exhibition of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill of March 24,1989. This thematic group exhibition of Alaska Artists addresses the effects of the spill in all media, in their own signature styles. Spill will showcase the artist’s individual interpretations of the Spill as informed by diverse cultural values, experiences, beliefs and artistic passions. Spill is sponsored by PWSRCAC, Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council. For more information about Spill, click here.

Looking Back: Images of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Kodiak. - The Kodiak Maritime Museum is calling for fishermen, oil spill workers and ordinary people who experienced the 1989 spill on Kodiak and the Alaska Peninsula to contribute their photographs and video images to a March 2009 exhibit documenting the oil spill. The museum will digitize, print and exhibit the images in Kodiak and on the museum website. Digitized images will be archived and a commemorative DVD will be produced. The original images will be returned to their owners. For details contact the museum at 907-486-0384 or info@kodiakmaritimemuseum.org, or go to www.kodiakmaritimemuseum.org

Barnes and Noble has kindly agreed to feature books on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill region, as well as the spill itself in March of 2009 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the spill. If anyone has suggestions for books they would like to see featured, please contact Linda Robinson at robinson@pwsrcac.org.  A list of books has been started, but all suggestions are welcome.

Free dvds

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To help commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, free dvd copies of “Then & Now: The Alaska Oil Spill at 20,” are available free of charge.

If you are interested, please contact Linda Robinson. robinson@pwsrcac.org or call 907-277-7222.

Literature

 

Please stay tuned for further information.