Drill Here, Drill Now!!

What a sad story that has unfolded in the Gulf of Mexico this past week. First, eleven oil rig workers were killed on an explosion an oil rig in the Gulf. The environmental disaster that is now playing out is a travesty. I remember back when we were having the drill or not to drill arguments on Cotton Mouth a couple of years ago, there was a canard repeated by most of our right wing visitors that there has never been an oil spill caused by an oil rig. What do you guys think now that our precious gulf is in serious danger of an environmental cataclysm?

CNN

The spill continues to grow as 42,000 gallons of oil leaks from an underwater well that was broken open when a drill rig exploded and sank last week. 11 workers are believed to have died in the blast. Their bodies have never been recovered.

The slick stretches for about 100 miles across the north-central gulf and is about 30 miles wide at some points.
It's within 16 miles of the mouth of the Mississippi, the U.S. Coast Guard reports.

Efforts to cap the well using remote-controlled submarines have failed. Louisiana officials fear the oil could reach the state's shoreline late Friday or early Saturday and damage shellfish and wildlife.

BP, which owns the oil well, is spending $6 million a day trying to control the spill. The company's CEO said today the explosion could have been prevented and he's putting them blame on the rig owner Transocean Ltd. A spokesman for Transocean has declined to respond to BP's comments. But Transocean's Vice President has said the oil rig had no signs of a problem before the blast.

It will be interesting to see how many safety violations have occurred in the recent past with this drilling outfit. One would hope it would be better than that of the mine owners involved in the recent mining tragedy. Sadly I will not be surprised if it is as bad or worse.

Update: CNN reports in a breaking news segment that things look a lot worse than originally thought.

CNN Breaking News

The oil spill from last week's deadly rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has increased to 5,000 barrels a day -- five times more than the original estimate, said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry.

A third underwater oil leak has been located in the pipeline that connected the rig to the oil well, said Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP.