VALDEZ, Ak (NBC33) -- We're coming up on the one year mark of the Crisis on the Coast.  But thousands of miles way, several communities aren't far from 25 years of their own oil disaster - the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.

In the first of our special reports from Alaska, we spoke with University of Alaska - Anchorage Chanellor Fran Ulmer.   She was on a commission looking to the Exxon Spill in 1989, and the President's Commission looking into the Deepwater Horizon Spill in 2010.

She says the spills, like Alaska and Louisiana are very similar - and the oil industry needs to make safety a top priority before tradegy strikes again.