Spill Feared to Be Larger Than Exxon Valdez

The quantity of oil that was on the ship, and that is now either on Spanish beaches or still inside the "Prestige" represents just over 38 minutes of daily U.S. oil consumption.

This picture was taken on November 19, 2002. It is a small section of a beach in Galicia, Spain, that is now covered in crude oil from the "Prestige" oil spill. View images on the Greenpeace Spain website

A ruptured tanker carrying 77,000 tons of fuel oil, almost twice the amount that spilled from the Exxon Valdez, has split in two and begun to sink off of Spain's coast. "If it sinks, there will be a time bomb at the bottom of the sea," said Greenpeace official Maria Jose Caballero.

Oil has already washed up along the coast and birds and other wildlife have been contaminated. Once released, oil is very difficult to contain, and most will remain in the marine environment.

The vessel, the Prestige, was reported to have been about 250 kilometres (150 miles) from the Spanish coast when it broke up.

Most of the crew were evacuated after the tanker began taking on water during bad weather last week.

What can we expect the ecological disaster following the Prestige sinking to look like? Unfortunately, history can give us a pretty clear picture.

Shortly after midnight on March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, in Alaska's Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of Alaskan crude oil. Within days, approximately 700 miles of coastline were oiled; ultimately, detectable amounts of the spill were found 600 miles from the accident.

The spill killed an estimated 3,500-5,500 sea otters out of a total population in the region of approximately 35,000. Over 35,000 carcasses of oiled birds were recovered within the first four months of the spill; altogether, an estimated 300,000-675,000 seabirds perished. Ten years later, in February 1999, only two species of wildlife - bald eagles and river otters - were considered to have recovered from the spill's effects. Harbor seals, three species of cormorants, harlequin ducks, pigeon guillemots and a family pod of killer whales were still listed as "not recovering."

Subsequent studies have shown that some fish populations may still be affected, even by relatively low concentrations of chemical compounds found in oil. Although Exxon claims that the Sound has been completely cleaned, pockets of oil remain beneath the surface in a number of areas.

In fact, the Exxon Valdez was just one in a long and continuing line of major oil spills, in Alaska and around the world. It was not even one of the largest: according to the Oil Spill Information Center, there had been 39 larger tanker spills since 1960. If other forms of spills - such as those resulting from the Persian Gulf war, from a 1992 oil well blowout in Uzebekistan, or the rupture of a Komineft pipeline in Russia in 1994 - are included, it ranks only 53rd.

The Danger of Oil is Not Limited to Spills

This latest accident reminds us of the inherent dangers of fossil fuels. In addition to the pollution caused by oil's extraction, transport and use, fossil fuels are causing climate change, the worst environmental problem we face today. We must phase out of the use of oil and move towards clean renewable energy that can meet our needs without threatening our environment, now and into the future.