Offshore Oil Rig Explodes, Burns and Sinks

An oil drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana exploded late Tuesday, and burned fiercely until it sank on Thursday. 11 workers are missing and 17 were seriously injured. For details, see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36683314

Our sympathy goes out to the victims and their families and friends.

The environmental and health costs of the explosion and its aftermath are still unknown. Just the air pollution from the burning rig is massive, but that could pale before the potential pollution from oil, as the well that the rig had just finished drilling could be spilling over 300,000 gallons of crude oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

California's fisheries, marine habitat and scenic coast are too valuable to risk this kind of damage. We should not endanger our coastal environment and human lives and health for the sake of a little more gas for the cars and a lot more money for the oil companies.

Even before the explosion, it was clear that drilling for oil off of California is a bad idea (see the March 30 post: http://peterallenforag.blogspot.com/2010/03/drilling-for-oil-dry-hole.html); this confirms it.

No more oil rigs off the coast of California.