Key wildlife populations like otters that were devastated in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska have fully recovered, the US Justice Department said Thursday. "Accordingly, the governments have decided to withdraw their 2006 request to Exxon to fund bio-restoration of subsurface lingering oil patches," it said, referring to the federal and Alaska state authorities. Exxon's huge tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound in March 1989, spilling nearly 11 million gallons (42 million liters) of crude oil from Alaska's North Slope fields into the waters, affecting 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) of coastline that included several national parks and wildlife refuges.
US: Alaska wildlife recovered since 1989 Exxon disaster
