Word: oiling
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Fortunately, nature itself, in fits and starts, seemed to be coming to the rescue. Four days of rain and snowstorms last week helped break up the floating oil and cleanse a number of shores. Moreover, the coming of the long / spring and summer thaw is sure to create a rush of rivulets and waterfalls that will help wash off the shoreline. Observed John Robinson, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: "In the end, nature has to do this...
...will be enormous. By last week the oil slick had traveled across an 1,800-sq.-mi. area. To stop its advance, "skimming" vessels sucked up the crude for transfer to dredging barges. Onshore, ten-man crews hosed down rocks with heated seawater. The two-pronged drive to clear sea and shore was plagued by snafus and logistical problems. As the weathered oil hardened into a debris-laden "mousse," the Soviet skimming ship found that the crude was too thick for its pumps and managed to recover only a few hundred barrels. And as the point of the oil slick...
...long-term effect on fish and other wildlife is difficult to gauge. Nobody knows how much oil may be sinking to the seabed, for instance. One hopeful note was sounded by the National Marine Fisheries Service in Juneau. Tests showed that salmon eggs and crab larvae, at least, may have escaped contamination because the oil became diluted and degraded to nontoxic levels before those organisms were exposed...
...seen a great pod of whales offshore. There were as many as 40, so close that he could hear the sound of their exhalations when they surfaced and the slap of their flukes when they dived once more. Seeing how the huge sea mammals were skirting the oil but not fleeing the area gave Kelso new optimism about Alaska's ability to recover. Said he: "I realized that there is hope...
...month after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the drive to repair the damage has a long way to go. Fortunately, Mother Nature herself is lending a hand...