Your post is scaring me further but I am still not sure I understand. The risks are of major temblors, even “extinction?”
What I mean is that millions of years ago, a meteor hit in the Gulf of Mexico causing a very large crater next to the Mexican shoreline releasing a large amount of hydrogen sulfides into the atmosphere. According to geologists in 2004 taking rock samples, the earth was covered in hydrogen sulfides that coincided with the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Now we have dug down into a very precarious area that is ALSO on the New Madrid fault. Worst case scenario could be far worse than cleaning up some oil on a beach and people losing their jobs.
Oh, and the last time the New Madrid fault had a major earthquake (1812), the Mississippi River changed direction...