The government will have a real problem now. The whackos drove them offshore to a point of major problems becoming much more probable. We have one and it will be used against oil of any kind.
This leak must be stopped as soon as practically possible. The fight then ensues that land drilling vs no drilling commences. What I hate about this entire event is that very important find and placement will be out of reach for a very long time, if forever.
Actually, there will still be drilling in the Gulf. It just won’t be by US or allied interests.
Here’s a March 18 editorial from the Washington Times stating that the Obama administration was already planning to ban drilling on the outer continental shelf before the “accident”: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/18/obama-surrenders-gulf-oil-to-moscow/
The BP announcement of the find was on March 17: “BP PLC announced Wednesday {3/17/2010} that it has discovered a “giant” crude deposit in an ancient rock formation that’s proving to be a new frontier in the search for new sources of energy. This oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was used to drill the exploration well about 250 miles southeast of Houston. (AP Photo)”
The rig didn’t blow until April 20, over a month after the article was published.
Of course, anybody who thinks that a Cuban or Venezuelan torpedo igniting the rig’s million-gallon fuel oil storage sank the rig is a complete nutjob. Likewise with anybody who thinks that the reason the BOP never activated is because there was never a spike in well pressure.