Fire boats try to put out the Deepwater Horizon before it sank.Photograph © KPA/Zuma/Rex Features.
Does anyone remember the Republicans chanting "Drill Baby, Drill" during the 2008 presidential election campaign? We dodged the McCain/Palin bullet and got a fistful of "hope" instead. Does anyone recall that Obama insists on expanded offshore drilling as a key component of what passes for his energy policy? "Change" anyone? This rig has collapsed into the sea. A dozen or so workers died, many others were injured. The industry is dirty and dangerous and does nothing what-so-ever to wean the U.S. off of fossil fuels. At the moment the well head is pushing in excess of 40,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico each day. I'd say that Obama's policy is a joke, but that would make light of what is an ongoing calamity.
