How a Massive Oil Spill Triggerd an Environmental Catastrophe. Michael Burgan has written numerous books for children and young adults during his nearly 20 years as a freelance writer. The biggest oil spill in U.S. history that polluted the pristine waters of Alaska decades ago and killed thousands of birds, mammals, and fish, still haunts the people who are living with its aftermath. On Good Friday 1989, the huge oil tanker, Exxon Valdez, ran aground in Prince William Sound, spilling millions of gallons of crude oil into the water-oil that would eventually cover more than 1, 000 miles of shoreline. Cleanup began immediately but there is