Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

in brief or
Respond to an Oil Spill

Boom, Barge, and Skimmer

Source: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/photos/exxon/09.html
Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Cleanup operations included skimming oil from the water surface with towed booms, as shown below. Two boats are towing the boom (only one is visible in this photo). Oil is collecting within the boom, and a small skimmer at the apex of the boom is removing the oil from the water surface. The skimmed oil is being pumped through a hose into the barge that is following the skimmer.

Skimming Operation

Oil being skimmed from the sea surface. Here, two boats are towing a collection boom. Oil concentrated within the boom is being picked up by the skimmer (the vessel at the apex of the boom).

Source: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/photos/exxon/10.html

High-Pressure, Hot-Water Washing

Workers using high-pressure, hot-water washing to clean an oiled shoreline. In this treatment method, used on many Prince William Sound beaches, oil is hosed from beaches, collected within floating boom, then skimmed from the water surface. Other common treatment methods included cold-water flushing of beaches, manual beach cleaning (by hand or with absorbent pom-poms), bioremediation (application of fertilizers to stimulate growth of local bacteria, which degrade oil), and the mechanical relocation of oiled sediments to places where they could be cleaned by wave and tide action.

Source: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/photos/exxon/15.html
Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration