Oil Spill Essay. I will be contrasting the Deepwater Horizon and the Exxon Valdez oil spills,

Another terrible oil spill that happened was the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989.  One immediate effect was the 11 million gallons of oil that spilled from a very large ship.  We weren’t at all prepared for this and locals were the first responders.  This led to lots of animals dying and thirty-one species were affected.  There are also some impacts from the Exxon Valdez oil spill right now.  Since nobody was prepared for this oil spill, it made us more prepared for the Deepwater Horizon.  Even though this oil spill happened all the way back in 1989, there are still a few future concerns.  The way of life for locals is still disrupted. Also, the herring business never recovered and only 10 of the 31 species recovered.

        Although these two oil spills are very different, they have a few similarities as well.  Both were horrific and will have oil remaining in the shores for many years to come.  They also both have past, present, and future effects on different areas of the U.S.  The last similarity is both oil spills killed tons of animals.

        People can really learn a lot from studying these oil spills.  I learned that it’s better to clean up the spill sooner rather than later because in the Exxon Valdez oil spill, there were a lot more future impacts due to the delayed clean up.  Also, I learned that people at oil companies need to be extremely careful because oil spills affect an area for years after they happen.