ALLISON LAKE, ABOVE VALDEZ — Three men dressed in full raingear crept like ants across a bumpy green landscape on Aug. 25, 2023. Using a metal pole that was part of a boat frame, together they lugged a four-stroke outboard motor that seemed to float above the wet greenery. The three men were scientists who […]
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Coast Guard rescued 18 people from a passenger vessel that ran aground near the Columbia Glacier Thursday. At 4:35 p.m., Coast Guard Sector Anchorage command center watchstanders overheard the ferry Aurora communicating with a vessel in distress. The watchstanders relayed communications through the crew of the Aurora and determined that Lu-Lu Belle, a 75-foot glacier tour boat, had run […]
The first oil flowed into the Alyeska pipeline on June 20th, 1977 and began it’s 800-mile journey through a 48-inch wide pipe from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez at 4 miles an hour. In the Port of Valdez, a 1,000-acre facility, across the bay from the city of Valdez, the S.S. ARCO Juneau […]
Shepard Point, Alaska – When the Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, more than 11 million gallons of heavy crude oil spilled into the sound. The spill spread over a vast area, impacting around 1,300 miles of coastline. Response efforts did not arrive onsite until 14 hours after the […]