Contaminants from natural coal deposits in the Gulf of Alaska are not easily bioavailable, unlike the crude oil from the Exxon Valdez tanker catastrophe, according to a new study. The findings challenge the theory that natural coal deposits were the cause of observed environmental damage. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) pollutants were blamed for the continuing degradation of the ecosystem off the coast of Alaska. Then a scientific dispute erupted over the origins of these pollutants. According to an international team of researchers writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the crude oil from the Exxon Valdez was the main source of the bioavailable PAH contaminants. The scientists from Tennessee Technological University, the University of Lausanne, Calvin College and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) compared PAHs in samples of tanker oil and from coal deposits. Their investigation with bacterial biosensors has now shown that only the PAHs from the tanker oil had any effect on organisms. …
Bioavailable Contaminants Come From Exxon Valdez Oil Catastrophe; Natural Coal Deposits Not Source Of Environmental Pollution, Study Finds
