How long does it take to clean up an oil spill?
A. This depends on the amount and type of oil spilled, where it goes, and what types of shorelines are impacted. For a very large spill with lots of impacts on shorelines that are difficult to clean (such as the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989), cleanup can continue for several years. More commonly, cleanup takes from several days to a few weeks.
