An Oil spill is the leakage or introduction of oil into an environment as a result of human action. It most commonly occurs in oceans due to transport of oil supplies.

aaaOil spills occur somewhere in the world almost every day of the year. One of the most famous oil spills is the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill. The Exxon Valdez was an American oil tanker that went aground on a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, in March 1989. The 301-m (987-ft) tanker leaked 260,000 barrels of oil, the largest oil spill in United States history. The cleanup was very slow due to a lack of preparedness on the parts of Exxon and the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, those responsible for containing and cleaning up the spill. The oil slick eventually coated about 1770 km (1100 mi) of the Alaska shoreline, killing thousands of birds and sea mammals and damaging fisheries. The tanker's captain and the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, both faced large fines and restitution payments.

Here are some of the affects of an oil spill. One, oil spills kill a tremendous amount of sea creatures and two, many sea creatures find themselves out of their natural environments.

Here are some pictures of the aftermath of oil spills:

Activities