UCSB scientists document fate of huge oil slicks from seeps at coal oil point

		IMAGE: Here are Christopher Farwell, left, and David Valentine in their UCSB lab. Click here for more information.

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Twenty years ago, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez was exiting Alaska's Prince William Sound when it struck a reef in the middle of the night. What happened next is considered one of the nation's worst environmental disasters: 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the pristine Alaskan waters, eventually covering 11,000 square miles of ocean.