CounterSpill

On March 23, 1989, the Exxon Valdez crashed hard aground on the coast at Prince William Sound, Alaska.

By March 25, the then-largest spill in U.S. history formed an oil slick five miles long and resisted any dispersement due to the calm waters of the disaster site. The U.S. Coast Guard reported that no wildlife was threatened, however there were already conflicting reports by community members.

It began at 7:55 p.m. on April 20, 2010.

Deepwater Horizon workers analyzed their next steps and considered their examination of the rig as “a good test.” However, at 9:40 p.m., mud flowed up to the floor of the rig and less than 10 minutes later, the first explosion was heard. Mayday was called at 9:52 p.m., and the rig was evacuated. Within hours, 11 men were reported as missing.

On October 20, 1944, a storage tank filled with over 90 million cubic feet of natural gas exploded, destroying everything within a one-mile radius in a wall of fire. The blaze continued uncontrolled for over nine hours.

Just before 1 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2008, a dam holding back a retention pond at a power plant run by the Tennessee Valley Authority broke, releasing a mix of water, ash and mud. Hundreds of acres and 12 homes were buried in toxic sludge.

As cleanup methods began, the TVA tired to contain the potential release of toxic pollutants and planned to trap a layer of ash that was on its way down the Emory River.

On April 26, 1986, while scientists tested backup power supplies for its four nuclear reactors, an accident occured at the Chernobyl nuclear complex in Russia.

On April 28, President Reagan’s Chief of Staff Donald Regan announced that the U.S. was willing to help.

At the end of January 1991, reports of a huge oil spill in the Persian Gulf began to surface. Iraqi forces purposefully opened valves at the Sea Island oil terminal and dumped oil from several tankers into the Persian Gulf in a strategic wartime move against U.S. forces.

On June 3, 1979, an exploratory well blew out and caught fire, pouring crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 30,000 to 45,000 barrels a day. Some report that the Ixtoc One was gushing oil 20 feet into the air. No injuries or deaths were initially reported.

After a violent earthquake shook Japan on March 11, 2011, nuclear reactors at a power plant maintained by Tokyo Electric Power Company became unstable.

An administrator at the Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa facility said the process for the cooling reactor was "not going as planned," adding that "nuclear emergency situation" has been declared. Officials evacuated the three-kilometer area around the plant.

On Oct. 11, 2000, a coal sludge pond in Martin County, Ky. broke into an underground mine, releasing millions of gallons waste into Coldwater Fork and Wolf Creek.