The news keeps saying this BP disaster is the largest oil spill in American history and that made me think what could be bigger? There's actually only one other aquatic spill that was bigger (for now) and they haven't the courtesy to even mention it! It's not as if there are too many to mention for Christopher Walken's sake. Anyway, for those interested who don't already know, this is what the BP spill is about to surpass...From the greatest source of fact known to man, Wikipedia:
The Gulf War oil spill is regarded as the largest oil spill in history, resulting from the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, or the first Gulf War.The oil spill, which began on January 21st, 1991, Estimates on the volume spilled usually range around 11 million barrels (462 million gallons or 1.75 billion liters); the slick reached a maximum size of 101 by 42 miles (4242 square miles or 6787 km²) and was 5 inches (13 cm) thick in some areas.
That seems like a pretty big deal and the first I heard of it was when I decided to look it up. The strangest thing is I couldn't even find a single photo of this thing. I guess no one gives a shit when oil washes up on Saudi Arabia, but remember people really got into a frenzy when a fraction of what's in the Gulf of Mexico spilled in Alaska, so I think our collective outrage about this kind of thing is a little off-center.
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