Latest Oil Spill: The Good News

A sense of doom hit me in the pit of my stomach when I heard the news:

The Coast Guard is responding to a report of a rig explosion and fire “and people in the water” in the Gulf of Mexico south of Vermilion Bay, authorities said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel said the rig is around 90 miles south of Vermilion Bay and that a helicopter earlier today reported that it was in fire “and that there was smoke and there were people in the water.”

A very tangible sense of “here we go again” washed over me.

But this

But I think we have avoided catastrophe and even have some good news.

GRAND ISLE, La. — An oil platform exploded and burned off the Louisiana coast Thursday, the second such disaster n the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months. This time, the Coast Guard said there was no leak, and no one was killed.

To say that this is good news is an understatement.  This is GREAT news.

However, the REALLY good news is:

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana’s Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP’s well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion that killed 11 workers.

Why?

Because, it’s shallow enough for:

Obama to dive down there and plug that leak.

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