Because so many people use oil, large ships must take billions of barrels of it across the oceans. If it is not handled carefully, these trips can be very bad. In 1989, the United States experienced a large oil spill in Prince William Sound, a waterway on the Alaskan coast. The "Exxon Valdez", a very big ship, hit a reef and spilled more than 260,000 barrels of oil. The results were very bad. A great number of animals were covered in oil and began dying immediately. Animals that ate these oil-filled animals also died. Many Alaskans who lived by fishing these animals lost their businesses. Even though many animals were saved, and the Exxon Oil Company spent 2.5 billion dollars trying to clean up the oil, Alaska's wildlife still suffers.