Through my work to protect and conserve Alaska's wild places, I've encountered many people who traveled to Prince William Sound to volunteer to help with the clean-up efforts after the tragic spill following the Exxon Valdez accident on March 24, 1989.

The memories of this experience and the horror they witnessed lives with them to this day, and they are horrified to learn that about 21,000 gallons of oil still remain in the Sound. Lingering oil also has been found on the Katmai coast and Kenai Peninsula more than 450 miles away. In some places, the leftover oil remains nearly as toxic as it was in the first few weeks after the spill, according to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council's 2009 report. And experts believe that it will take decades, or centuries, for the oil to disappear entirely.

Beyond the carnage first found in the spill's wake (which included 250,000 sea birds, 1,000 sea otters and 151 bald eagles), no one really knows the long-term effects on the region's wildlife. We do know that species such as the killer whale may never recover, and the Pacific herring population that once drove the region's economy is still too low to sustain a commercial fishery.

Despite the oil industry's slick advertising campaigns that promote its commitment to the environment, companies such as Exxon continue to gamble with our nation's natural future. Follow the 800 miles of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System north from Valdez to America's Arctic to find the next Exxon Valdez disaster waiting to happen.

The oil industry has its sights set on the unique, fragile ecosystems of America's Arctic — particularly the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve. The imposing threats of industrialization are compounded by the fact that the Arctic region is already under immense stress from the impacts of climate change; warming in the Arctic is occurring at twice the rate of the rest of the planet.

As the Arctic environment melts at a rapidly accelerating pace, Arctic wildlife, including the threatened polar bear, endangered bowhead whale, ribbon seal and Pacific walrus, are increasingly at risk. Alaska Natives, who have sustained themselves for thousands of years on the land and waters of the Arctic, watch their way of life become increasingly imperiled.

Currently, there are close to 100 million acres across America's Arctic open for oil and gas development. Even as more areas are opened to development — right now, 73.4 million acres in the Arctic Ocean are in the process of being offered for lease — the largest blocks of Arctic waters yet to be offered — the Arctic remains the "least studied and most poorly understood area on Earth," according to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. Thus, the environmental and social impacts of oil and gas development have been poorly studied and documented.

Despite the very real risk of an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean (the federal government has calculated up to a 50 percent chance of a large oil spill in the Chukchi Sea alone), no technology exists to clean up a spill in the Arctic's icy conditions. Concerned members of Congress sent a letter to President Barack Obama highlighting the critical need to take action to implement a science-based approach to managing development in America's Arctic. There must be a timeout on all industrial activity in order to develop a comprehensive energy and conservation plan. Certain areas, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and priority conservation areas within the Reserve, must be kept off limits, areas Interior Secretary Ken Salazar described as, "special and treasured places we will not disturb."

It's been 20 years since the Exxon Valdez oil spill. As a nation, we must learn from the lessons of the past. Industrial development has no place in America's Arctic until it can be done without significant risk to the region's land and water, and the wildlife and people that depend on them. As the lingering effects of the Exxon Valdez have shown us, the risk is just too great.

If you would like to learn more about these special places, please join us at the New Mexico Film Museum (formerly Jean Cocteau Cinema) at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the 2020 Vision Arctic Film Fest.

Liz VanDenzen is the New Mexico representative of the Alaska Wilderness League in Santa Fe.