Had you heard about this oil spill in Alaska?

It happened more than three weeks ago, but it certainly wasn't front-page news. More than 355,000 gallons of fuel oil are believed to have spilled from the freighter Selendang Ayu, which ran aground and split in half near Unalaska Island on December 8.

So far, biologists have counted 109 bird carcasses and more than 600 birds coated with oil in the area around the wreck, but they believe that thousands more have been killed.

The spill also caused the cancellation of Unalaska's crab-fishing season, resulting in a loss of nearly $500,000 in revenue.

Also, six members of the ship's crew were killed when a Coast Guard helicopter that had rescued them crashed into the sea.

Why hadn't we heard about this sooner? Is bad news from Iraq trumping bad news from home? And is it a coincidence that both involve our dependence on oil?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/national/30alaska.html?oref=login&th