Is it a considerable problem, though? It seems too simple to say "oil leak = bad!" - surely the smaller leaks in this report (particularly the American ones, li

Is it a considerable problem, though? It seems too simple to say "oil leak = bad!" - surely the smaller leaks in this report (particularly the American ones, like the train derailment) provoked a recovery and cleanup operation, and thus may have had only a minor environmental impact. It would be useful if there was some kind of score-card for determining the environmental impact of any given spill. I imagine it would be some combination of: - Volume of oil released during the "spilling" period (a tanker breaking up on the rocks is presumably worse than the same volume trickling out over a year) - The environment into which the leak occurred (leaks in the desert aren't as bad?) - Whether the spill provoked a response, and whether that was effective, for some measure of effective. I'd be interested to know if such a thing exists.