Exxon Valdez – Lessons Learned & Lost
In recognition of today’s 25-year anniversary of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska (March 24), this seems a good time to reflect on lessons learned, and lessons lost. 1. Oil spill “cleanup” is a myth: Once oil has spilled, the battle is lost — it is impossible to effectively contain, recover, and cleanup. Exxon spent more than $2 billion trying to clean up its Alaska spill, but recovered less than 7 percent. BP spent $14 billiontrying to clean up its 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, and although they collected some at the wellhead, burned and dispersed some (with toxic chemicals), it recovered only 3 percent from the sea…
Exxon Spill – 25 Years of Tears
Time has a strange affect on events in our lives. I feel I’m looking through a glass of water when I look back 25 years to this day, March 24, 1989. I’d left Seattle University and the Ballard Lochs on the M/V Westward heading north through the Inside Passage of British Columbia for the sac roe herring fishery in Sitka. No time in my life is etched as clearly as that spring. There is a certain magic about following Spring to Alaska. Per my not so scientific study, I’ve determined Spring moves at about 9 nautical miles an hour, about…
Sullivan Website Screw-Up Quotes Ron Paul
Carpetbagging Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan (OH->DC->AK) is running against incumbent Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) this fall. When serious and professional candidates run for office, they usually hire someone to develop a website for their candidacy. And in the course of developing the design of the website, there’s often something that says this: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum…
GOP Senator – Birth Control Irresponsible
I had a plan to write a column that was going to make the Anchorage municipal elections coming up to be the sexiest most riveting thing you’ve ever read. Then someone did something stupid in Juneau, so you’ll have to wait a week while I sort this doofus out. First, the reporting on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders from Kyle Hopkins and Marc Lester for the Anchorage Daily News has been incredible. Disturbing, and incredibly needed. Two percent of children born in Alaska have FASD. We need solutions and education. Sadly, we have a “think tank” formed by Sen. Pete Kelly…
Bird of the Week – Short-eared Owl
Short-eared Owls don’t usually breed in Interior Alaska, although there was an active nest along the Denali Highway a few years ago. They mostly breed on the north side of the Brooks Range and the North Slope, but pass through here in spring migration. The “ears,” like the “horns” on a Great Horned Owl, are feather tufts. They are “short” in relation to the tufts on its non-Alaska cousin, the Long-eared Owl. Short-eared Owls are among the most widely distributed owls in the Western Hemisphere. WC has seen them in Hawaii, in the Galapagos Islands, on Tierra del Fuego at…
Palin’s ‘Mazin’ ‘Murrika!
“Git red, wiiiiiiild, and blue, Merrika!” Thus spake the cartoon of a parody of a cartoon that used to be Alaska’s half-term governor, and the Vice Presidential nominee on the Republican Party ticket. Once, as much as Alaskans were horrified by it, the rest of the nation stood in awe watching the sparkly, mavericky mother of five take her place in the klieg lights, delivering a powerhouse speech that turned her into a household name overnight. She was, for a few hours, America’s new kickass sweetheart and future first female Vice President. She roared onto the stage and breathed life…
Don’t Tread On Grammar: Reader Response
So, a while ago I made this No Pebble flag using art by the inimitable Ray Troll. It’s a riff on the Gadsden flag. Someone didn’t like it too much. I got this in my e-mail. Which, of course I forwarded to Jeanne. After some grade school corrections from Jeanne, I created this. Remember kids, fund public education.
Moose Gate!
Meanwhile in Canada, that’s a fine moose he got himself into! A random act of kindness by three Canadian men frees a terrified baby moose from a potentially fatal situation. We love when a moose story has a happy ending.
Open Thread: Found Aurora
Just searching through my Alaska archives and came across a folder of some wonderful aurora photos from late last year. You can see the rest over at my new photo site (and get prints, if you like) at www.zdroberts.com.
Subaru Love, or How I Lived
Tuesday morning on my way to school, I was driving on one of the back road highways that criss-cross Upstate New York. Coming around a slight bend, I saw a car half out into the road I was driving on. I had a decision – slam on my brakes and hope for the best, or swerve around the car blocking the road. I went with the latter. Deciding not to go into the opposite lane behind the car I attempted to go in front of it. there was more space on the side of the road there, and I thought…