The pipeline terminal is where all the oil from the pipeline gets loaded onto tankers and shipped to wherever it is that it goes (mostly the West Coast of the US). When the tanker Exxon Valdez spilled all that oil in 1989 (on Good Friday, 25 years after the Good Friday earthquake that devastated the Sound), it happened not far out of the port of Valdez. The Exxon Valdez left the shipping lanes to avoid ice which had calved off the Columbia Glacier, and ended up far afield, aground on Bligh Reef with a number of holes in the hull. Apparently there were three days of calm weather but a completely inadequate response plan, so the tanker continued to leak and 20% of its oil cargo spread until winds arrived to push the oil all over the Sound, with 200 miles of shoreline severely impacted and another 1000 miles somewhat impacted.
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council has an interesting website with lots of information and photos. I learned an interesting fact there:
"The Exxon Valdez was repaired and renamed the Sea River Mediterranean and is used to haul oil across the Atlantic. The ship is prohibited by law from returning to Prince William Sound."
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