Valdez, Alaska The original town site was dismantled and abandoned. From 1975 to 1977, the Trans-Alaska pipeline was built to carry oil from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields in northern Alaska to a terminal in Valdez, the nearest ice-free port. Oil is loaded onto tanker ships for transport. The construction and operation of the pipeline and terminal boosted the economy of Valdez. The 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill occurred as the oil tanker "Exxon Valdez" was leaving the terminal at Valdez full of oil. The spill occurred at Bligh Reef, about from Valdez. Although the oil did not reach Valdez, it devastated
Ashland oil spill Ashland oil spill The Ashland oil spill was an oil spill that occurred on January 2, 1988 into the Monongahela River near the town of Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania, approximately 20 miles upstream from the city of Pittsburgh. Ashland Oil Company Inc. (currently known as Ashland Inc.) owned a facility near the Monongahela River in Jefferson, PA (now Jefferson Hills). On January 2, 1988, a four-million gallon tank was used for the first time after being dismantled (from an Ohio location) and rebuilt in Pennsylvania. It was this tank, holding approximately 3.5 million gallons of diesel oil, that failed and collapsed,