The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion continues to dominate the headlines:
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana declared a state of emergency Thursday afternoon, saying that the vast oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico “threatens the state’s natural resources.” Federal officials were concerned that the slick could reach the Mississippi River Delta marshes by Thursday evening.
The leak from the oil well, caused by an explosion on a drilling rig about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, which left 11 workers missing and presumed dead, is estimated at 5,000 barrels of oil a day. Such a disaster is very rare, but the financial and environmental costs are clearly high when it occurs. Last month, President Obama proposed opening more areas of the Gulf coastline to oil and natural gas drilling.
“It obviously was a catastrophic event,” O’Berry said. An investigation into the cause of the blast is under way, but there are no indications it was a terrorist incident, the Coast Guard said.
Tags: Oil Rig
