The department is proposing to remove \u201cimpaired\u201d designations from 11 spill-affected sites in its 2026 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report<\/a>, a tally required under the federal Clean Water Act.<\/p>\n Among the sites that may be reclassified are some that became famous for the thick coating of spilled oil they received in the immediate aftermath of the tanker\u2019s grounding. They include Sleepy Bay on Latouche Island and Bay of Isles and Herring Bay on Knight Island.<\/p>\n Impaired water body lists, which identify sites that fail to meet water quality standards, are required by federal law<\/a> of all states every two years.<\/p>\n For Alaska, the assessment of whether specific locations affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill should still be on the list depends on whether they met state and federal water quality standards, according to the DEC.<\/p>\n \u201cJust as water near a permitted sewage outfall may have pollutants present but remain in \u2018attainment\u2019 because it meets strict safety and environmental thresholds, some EVOS beaches may still contain traces of lingering oil while now meeting the legal standards for water quality,\u201d a department statement said.<\/p>\n The draft<\/a> proposes moving the 11 sites from Category 4b, used for sites that are impaired but have recovery plans in place, to Category 2, used for sites where water quality standards have been attained for at least one designated use.<\/p>\n The state agency\u2019s draft 2026 list also contains another change: a consolidation of sites with lingering oil.<\/p>\n Two years ago, the state\u2019s impaired water body list identified 36 such sites. As of now, the department has merged some of those, leaving a total of 16 sites.<\/p>\n U.S. Coast Guard<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Contributed<\/p>\n Workers steam blast rocks soaked in crude oil from the leaking tanker Exxon Valdez. The Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, March 23, 1989 spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil, which resulted in the largest oil spill in U.S. history.<\/p>\n Five of those sites are still considered impaired at the Category 4 level, under the draft list. Those sites are on Smith Island, Knight Island, Eleanor Island and Green Island, and altogether they account for a little under 16 miles of coastline, according to the DEC.<\/p>\n The lingering oil is a reminder of the environmental damage wreaked by the Exxon Valdez disaster and the difficulties encountered in the response to it.<\/p>\n Despite a massive cleanup effort, only about 10%<\/a> of the spilled oil that fouled waters and beaches was ever recovered, according to the DEC.<\/p>\n Lingering oil posed environmental problems<\/a> for several years after that, according to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, the federal and state organization that administers the funds paid by Exxon to settle government damage claims. Lingering oil leaching out from beach sites slowed the recovery of some species for more than two decades, including sea otters, and some research indicates that long-term impacts from lingering oil were as bad or worse than the initial acute impacts of the spill, according to the trustee council.<\/p>\n As of 2007, after years of weathering and degradation, an estimated 23,000 gallons<\/a> of spilled oil remained on the beaches. That is about 0.2% of the original spill volume, according to the trustee council. A follow-up survey in 2015 revealed no significant change in that amount, according to the council.<\/p>\n![\"Workers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774428916_164_.jpeg\"\/)
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