Now Doodeee...... Ol' Limpbaugh stated that Prince William Sound is in pristine condition again. It is not at all in that condition and will not be for decades. Just the usual lies from the Ol' Junkie.
and just when have you been there to see it?
Rush is right, sorry to burst your alls bubble.
No, Rush is not right. Here is what the scientists at NOAA have to say.
Of course, a dingleberry wingnut will believe a proven junkie before they will accept the studies of scientists. But thats the Teabaggers for you.
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill – 20 Years After: The Analysis : EcoLocalizer
What caused two Orca whale pods (observed in the oil slick in 1989) to lose 40% of their members? One of these pods is slowly recovering, but the second, originally composed of 22 members, has now lost all of its female members, making the survival of the pod impossible. Government scientists assert that the sudden and coinciding pod declines were caused by the oil spill—either through breathing the fumes or eating contaminated prey. However, Exxon scientist assert that the pod declines can not be conclusively linked to the spill.
Sea otter populations were also heavily impacted. While most of these populations around the sound have rebounded, many populations that inhabited the worst stricken areas back in 1989 remain notably low. According to a US Geological Survey report, oil remains in the shallow, intertidal zones of many of these beaches, and that digging in these zones by otters (an activity comprising 18% of sea otter dives) continually exposes them to oil residues. To what extent this exposure has prevented these populations from rebounding (perhaps due to hydrocarbon impacts on otter fertility cycles) may be a question that can never be answered satisfactorily.
One issue that scientist on both sides do agree on: the Pacific herring population has declined dramatically (by 85%). But was this due to the oil spill? This is difficult to determine since deeper water animals (like fish) may not feel the impact of such spills immediately; the herring population did not crash until 1993, one year following a particularly weak plankton bloom, which may have left the fish hungry and compromised their immune systems. Using this information, researchers from the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and the University of Alaska have developed a model that faithfully replicates the “busts” and “booms” of the herring population for the past 15 years. However, Richard Thorne, of the Prince William Sound Science center, had conducted a hydro-acoustic monitoring survey, using sonar to count fish. His results matched well with the aerial surveys of herring spawn which have been conducted every year for the past thirty. The comparisons indicate that the collapse began in 1989, the same year as the spill. Thorne believes that the spill, followed by three years of unchecked fishing, have caused the herring decline. But due to a lack of pre-spill data on this fish population, the mystery as to why the herring are not coming back remains.
