From TreeHugger: U.S. Navy Mechanized Landing Craft (LCMs) are anchored along the shoreline as Navy and civilian personnel position hoses during oil clean-up efforts on Smith island. The massive oil spill occurred when the commercial tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground while transiting the waters of Prince William Sound on March 24th. Date: 11 May 1989. Photo: Wikimedia

5. Exxon Valdez March 24, 1989. The tanker Exxon Valdez, captained by the now infamous Joseph Hazelwood, ran aground on Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef, spilling more than 10.8 million US gallons (40.9 million liters) of crude oil into the sensitive natural coastline. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that 26,000 gallons of Valdez oil remains adhered to the rocks and soils of the spill site. The Exxon Valdez still plies the waters of Asia as an ore ship under the name Dong Fang Ocean. …

8 Worst Man-made Environmental Disasters of All Time