Let's take oil execs at their word: this spill was nobody's fault. Their basic argument is, shit happens. You can't prepare for every eventuality. Especially 5000 feet beneath the surface.
But in denying blame, these oil executives inadvertently make the case that offshore drilling must be banned. If a fuck-up of these proportions can happen without it being anyone's fault - then offshore drilling is simply too risky to be allowed.
Case closed.
Because offshore drilling was never sold to us as being worth the despoliation of an entire ocean. It was sold as safe. Presumably, if we'd known a gusher of oil could open up at the bottom of the ocean, and that there was no technology to close it, we would have said No Way.
I mean, we're not monsters, after all. We wouldn't purposefully destroy an entire ocean just to feed our driving habit.
Would we?