Special Workshop: The 30th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: A Legacy of Ecosystem Research

2019 Alaska Marine Science Symposium

About

In the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, AK scientific research and monitoring entered a new era. Government scientists have learned a great deal about ecosystem response over time, which has helped shape contemporary understanding of oil spill impacts and the importance of long-term monitoring and ecosystem research. The Alaska experience has provided a scientific framework for assessing oil spills in other parts of the world.

Discerning the impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill required a concerted effort to understand ecosystem processes in the Gulf of Alaska. In the early days after the spill, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council developed a framework for detecting ecosystem change that depended on a high level of communication between scientific disciplines. Ultimately the multi-disciplinary conversations that began in the 1990s created a powerful model for communicating ecosystem status. This model, now known as the Alaska Marine Sciences Symposium, has been proven invaluable for detecting ecosystem change and continues to arm Alaskans with the knowledge they need to plan for an uncertain future.

As we approach the 30th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a special workshop is being held at the 2019 Alaska Marine Science Symposium. Presenters at this session will share key observations including: observed persistence of oil in contaminated habitats, the prolonged duration of ecological damage, a multiplicity of toxicological pathways, and socioeconomic and human health effects. They also will examine how observations in Prince William Sound actually informed damage assessments following two other major spills: the 2007 Hebei Spirit spill near Taean National Park, South Korea and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Schedule

Day 1

Opening Remarks

Dr. Ron Heintz – NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center

Dr. Heintz is currently a Program Manager with NOAA at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. In the years following the Exxon Valdez oil spill he was responsible for demonstrating the teratogenic effects of oil on pink salmon. Since then he has been deeply involved in understanding why herring in Prince William Sound have failed to recover since the spill and evaluating the status of the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea and Chukchi ecosystems using trophic ecology.

Lessons learned from three big spills in the US and Korea

Dr. Un Hyuk Yim – Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology

Dr. Yim has more than 20 years of oil pollution experience. He specializes in environmental occurrence and fate of organic pollutants in marine environments, which includes crude oil, PAHs, and other substances. He has been leading the environmental impact assessment of the Hebei Spirit oil spill in Korea since 2012. Dr. Yim has authored or co-authored nearly 120 scientific papers and edited a textbook on the environmental forensics aspects of marine pollution, mainly focused on oil spill.

Removal Efforts and the Persistence of Spilled Oil: Lessons from the Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon and Hebei Spirit Oil Spills

Dr. Sunghwan Kim – Kyungpook National University, Korea

Dr. Kim is a professor of chemistry at Kyungpook National University in South Korea and is on the editorial advisory board for Energy and Fuels. His research is focused on the mass spectrometry, petroleum and humic substances. He has been actively conducting research since 2001 and has published 100 papers.

Long term ecological impacts from oil spills: comparison of Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon, and Hebei Spirit

Dr Mace Barron – US EPA

Dr. Barron is a Senior Research Toxicologist at the US EPA in Gulf Breeze Florida. He has published more than 130 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters on chemical bioaccumulation, ecological risk assessment, and the toxicity and risks of oil and PAHs. He has served as an expert for the U.S. Department of Justice and EPA. He was a member of EPA’s Deepwater Horizon Science Team, and testified as the U.S. Government’s expert on oil and dispersant toxicology.
He currently serves as a member of EPA’s Risk Assessment Forum composed of the Agency’s senior scientists.

PAH Exert Toxicological effects Through Multiple Pathways

Dr. Jeff Short – JWS Consulting

Dr. Short is the Executive Director of JWS Consulting and was the government’s lead chemist following the Exxon Valdez oil spill. As such he was deeply involved in understanding the spill’s impacts and demonstrating the presence of lingering oil in Prince William Sound. Since then he has been involved in assessing the impacts of the Deep Water Horizon on menhaden in the Gulf of Mexico and consulting with the Korean National Park Service on the Hebei Spirit spill. He has published more than 140 papers on oil chemistry and effects.

Strategic Action Plan for the Restoration of Local Community Healthiness after Hebei Spirit Oil Spill

Dr. Jong-Gwan Jung - Chungnam Institute, Korea

Dr. Jung currently serves as a senior research fellow in the field of environmental planning and ecology research at the Chungnam Institute (CNI) in South Korea. He was part of the Korean government’s task force on the Hebei Spirit Oil Spill when he joined the SCAT (Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Team) and contributed to establishing a framework for systematic restoration of oil spill areas. His institute initiated the strategic action plan to recover damaged local communities including the distribution of urgent livelihood allowances, local economic boosting measures, restoration of ecosystem and local residents health monitoring. Since 2008, he has served as a Steering Committee Member of Oil Spill Accident in the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

Closing Comments and Panel Discussion

Last updated by Alaska Fisheries Science Center on 04/14/2022