Oil's Well That Doesn't End Well For This Oil Well, Part 2

As The Blob Visible From Space heads for the Missisippi delta, lawmakers in another state with fragile coastal structures (North Carolina's famous Outer Banks) are blithely saying how unfortunate things are in the Gulf, but of course a disaster like that could never happen here.  State Senate leader Mark Basnight seems to think the Old North State has no choice:

Basnight, a Democrat, has softened his "never" stance on offshore drilling slightly in recent years, and said the spill hadn't changed his position: that there should be drilling only if energy companies sign ironclad agreements to not only pay for cleaning up any spills but to compensate coastal residents for any resulting loss in income.

Shrimpers and fishermen in Louisiana have already filed a lawsuit, claiming the spill there, which is growing by 5,000 barrels a day and now covers an area 600 miles around, will destroy their industry.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue was once opposed to drilling, but in recent months has said that it appears inevitable. She said that if North Carolina must endure the risks, it should be compensated. She was in Europe on a trade mission and vacation Thursday, but spokesman Tim Crowley said the Louisiana spill underlined the wisdom of creating a group of experts.

"It emphasizes the importance of making sure that any drilling off our coast would be safe, which is why the governor put together an advisory panel of experts to review these issues and make recommendations," Crowley said.

Sure.  Ironclad guarantees to clean up and compensate.  I'm sure NC Republicans will go for that.  Perhaps Gov. Perdue's panel of experts can come up with a way to make sure those blowout preventers that are supposed to stop something like this from ever happening don't fail spectacularly, too.  And hey, should this ever happen in the furture, I'm sure energy companies like BP won't go to court anyway to protest ever spending a dime on the cleanup, even with those "ironclad" guarantees.

It seems to me the only way to enforce that ironclad guarantee is not to drill in the first place.  The situation in the Gulf is basically a near-worst case scenario, bordering on becoming a worst case scenario that could spew millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf for weeks.

Just some quick calculations show that the current rate, this wellhead is belching roughly 2 and a third gallons of oil into the Gulf per second.  The wellhead could tear and the flow rate could increase depending on the pressures down there, if debris settles or twists or breaks, who knows.  At this rate we'll surpass Exxon Valdez in about seven weeks.

This is one oil rig capable of this. One.  Worst case scenario, one oil rig is capable of an Exxon Valdez level 11 million gallon spill in seven weeks.

There are several thousand oil rigs off Louisiana alone.

Worried yet?  I'm thinking when the pictures of Louisiana's destroyed coast and its price tag become painfully clear (and especially should this mess spread to other states too) I'm thinking "Drill baby drill" is done baby done.

Real shame the Obama administration bought it hook, line, and sinker like a bunch of idiots.  Better hope the Dems' record of improving oil rig safety will be better than their record so far of improving mine safety, too.

Energy companies after all are making a killing.

[UPDATE]  The Axeman says no new drilling until an investigation into this is complete.