Crossposted from ePluribus Media.
ChartsBin.com has a great flash animation on a page titled The Largest Oil Spills in History, 1901-Present.Check it out if ever you need to get an idea of the amount and placement of some of the largest oil-related disasters (aside from war) that the global ecology has had to endure.
These spills have an impact not only on any local environment affected but also on any systems that the pollutants pass through as they are dispersed far and wide through the ocean.