Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Gulf of Mexico oil spill: How bad is it? - CSMonitor.com

We have people saying 'Drill Baby Drill' and here is a huge catastrophe hitting our Gulf coast. It can be seen from space and is currently about 600 miles around. The oil spill in Valdez, AK still has consequences after 20+ years. At first the oil company didn't there was a leak and then discovered it was indeed leaking. There is a valve that is supposed to activate to shut off the leak and it didn't activate. Now remotely operated vehicles (ROV) have been deployed to try and get that shutoff valve to work and stop the flow. Burning off the oil is being considered. This appears to be a very strange leak that is not reacting as the oil company is used to, like a rebelling child. Murphy's Law is in effect here.

Does this mean there should be more maintenance, more oversight, more testing, more emergency response test runs, old wells replaced with newer equipment, or....??

In any case, consequences for birds and marine life could be huge even though right now this oil slick is not as large as Valdez. If BP and all the agencies assisting them can't get it shut off, it could continue to grow. The currents will carry the oil slick toward land - then shorebirds will become covered in the oil - then they will die. Even with numerous ecology groups cleaning the birds and the gooey mess from the shore, it will be a disaster.

Of course some will say the ocean will cleanse itself, there are ups and downs in nature.........but when man interferes, the consequences are always larger and skewed. 

How about exploration for alternative fuels instead of more oil exploration?  We need creativity, thinking outside the box: electricity, microwave technology, microchips, lasers, satellites, etc. were innovations - we need that "100th Monkey" awareness and breakthrough with the oil and energy companies.