There is no question about the scale of the destruction. The blowout on a deep-water drilling rig has already dumped nearly 3.5 million gallons of oil into the gulf, and the companies involved have yet to figure out how to stop it. If left unchecked, the spill will almost certainly inflict terrible damage on Louisiana’s coastline and its fishing industry, and possibly other gulf states.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/opinion/12wed1.html?th&emc=th
