2002

Two miles beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, off Spain's west coast, the sunken tanker Prestige continues to leak 32,000 gallons of oil a day, a month after it broke in two and descended to the ocean floor. Now European officials must decide whether it's riskier to let about 16 million gallons stay there and seep out gradually, or to try to remove it, said Malcolm L. Spaulding, a professor of ocean engineering at the University of Rhode Island and an oil-spill specialist. [MORE INFO]