Fresh news delivered to you every day. Visit our Circulation department for print subscription information. At 92,400 gallons, the spill may be the largest ever to hit the North Slope's fragile tundra. Within 24 hours, most of the water and crude had been recovered. But the damage had been done.
Some crude still coats vegetation.
Salt, which may be more damaging than oil, covers the ground. Every year hundreds of spills hit the ground on the North Slope. Most are less than 10 gallons. Corrosion accounts for only a few, usually five to 10 a year. But they tend to be big, averaging 4,261 gallons.