Would You Vacation On An Oil-Covered Florida Beach?

The Coast Guard is considering lighting the massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana on fire, according to the AP.

Efforts to close a well spewing oil in the Gulf of Mexico are failing so the Coast Guard is considering lighting the mess on fire.

Crews have been unable to stop thousands of barrels of oil from fouling gulf waters since an April 20 explosion sank the Deepwater Horizon, which was drilling 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead, and the cause of the blast has not been determined.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the controlled burns would be done during the day far from shore. Crews would make sure marine life and people were protected and that work on other oil rigs would not be interrupted.

A couple observations.

How do you protect marine life from a burning mass of oil?

And thank goodness work on other oil rigs can continue!!  God forbid that be interrupted.

The spill is having broad political effects on Obama’s plan to allow offshore drilling.  From the New  York Times:

The loss of life and the looming ecological catastrophe from the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico have piled political complications onto the push for energy and climate changelegislation here, officials and interest groups say.

Expanded offshore oil and gas drilling is a central component to the compromise plan being written in the Senate to address the nation’s energy needs and the emissions of the gases that contribute to global warming. The plan, which still does not exist in legislative form, would also include multibillion-dollar incentives for nuclear power and so-called clean-coal research.

Especially in Florida, where the drilling was especially controversial.  Sen. Bill Nelson was always against it, but now the Republican establishment is backtracking, both looking to future Florida drilling and the real possibility that the Deepwater Horizon spill will foul Florida beaches.  From the St. Petersburg Times:

Now Gov. Charlie Crist wants to rethink his views on oil drilling. Incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon wants to call time-out. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson wants a federal investigation. If it stops the rush to drill off Florida’s beaches, there ultimately may be a silver lining in the huge oil slick heading for the Gulf Coast.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time on Florida beaches.

And would I be less likely to go, knowing there were rigs offshore?

Absolutely.

And would I go with beaches covered with tar and dead birds?

Ummm, no.