2007 Oceans to Stars Lecture Series

Exxon Valdez: Lingering Effects of Oil on Health

Riki Ott, PhD
Marine Toxicologist
Cordova, Alaska

May 24, 2007


Download an audio recording
of the talk (13.5 MB mp3)


Introduction

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, is one of the nation's largest environmental disasters and the world’s most studied oil spill. Pioneering ecosystem studies, toxicity tests, and hydro-acoustic monitoring have revealed widespread damage to generations of fish and wildlife from the spill. Further, thousands of workers became chemically poisoned due to clean-up activities. Out of this tragedy, new paradigms in biological and social sciences have emerged. What are the public health ramifications of this spill and, more generally, of dependence on fossil fuels? What are the socio-economic implications of this oil spill on a natural resource-based community? The talk provides recommendations for how communities can prepare for, and respond to, future environmental and health risks.


About the speaker

Riki Ott, PhD, marine oil pollution expert, (www.soundtruth.info) was on the scene before, during, and after one of the biggest environmental disasters in the United States—the Exxon Valdez oil spill. A former commercial salmon fisher-ma'am in Prince William Sound, she experienced firsthand the spill’s effects, including environmental devastation, economic losses to the fishing industry, and psychosocial trauma to the close-knit community. 1993’s spill-related salmon and herring population collapses prompted Ott to retire from fishing and found three nonprofit organizations to deal with the area’s lingering social, economic, and environmental harm. Author of award winning Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$, her talks weave the legacy of the Exxon Valdez spill into current issues of public health, environmental pollution, our energy future - and creating sustainable communities. See her Sound Truth site for more information.

See a reading list (.pdf file) of books relevant to this series.

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