BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: IN our "CNN 20" segment, a look back now at the Exxon-Valdez oil spill 11 years ago.</s>GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We get word that there is this big oil spill in Alaska. It was the worst contamination I have ever personally witnessed.</s>GREG LEFEVRE, CNN SAN FRANCISCO BUREAU CHIEF: It was awful. It was just awful. Every beach you went to on Prince William Sound was awash in this thick, gloppy goo, and in that goo were dead animals, dead birds, dead fish. Every place you looked, in a state that is known for its tremendous natural beauty, all you saw was this black goo and death. It was really tough to watch. You began to realize how serious this spill was, how widespread this spill was, and how devastating it was to the natural beauty of Alaska and to the people who earned their living on the water there at Prince William Sound.</s>LAMOTTE: They would use hoses to put detergent on it, if you will. And attempt to at least get the main part of it off. And then they would actually go down there and, by hand, pick up rocks and start rubbing oil off of them. This was a huge oil spill, the likes we had never seen before. And ultimately, it was 11.2 million gallons of oil that had spilled into the ocean up in Alaska.</s>LEFEVRE: Ultimately, they were able to get the oil out of the water. And from my understanding, things may be better than they ever have been up there.
CNN 20: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, March 24, 1989