Examining The Legacy Of The 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

"We just hadn't been ready for a spill," said John Devens, who was the mayor of the small port of Valdez in 1989. Exxon Valdez, the giant oil tanker that ran aground, was named after his town.

The town was fond of the oil industry - it received millions of dollars of revenue by taxing the oil companies - but things changed when the massive ship began to spill thousands of barrels of oil in Prince William Sound, poisoning the water and damaging Alaska's spectacular shores.

When John heard about the disaster on 24 March, he chartered a plane to assess the damage. Read the full report here.

Source: BBC News, UK