Drill baby drill

This is horrifying.

11 oil rig workers still missing after explosion, Coast Guard says

Twelve workers on an oil drilling rig that exploded and caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico late Tuesday are still missing today, the Coast Guard said.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser had said that he had received reports that the missing workers were found about 11 a.m., and it was noted that the Coast Guard could not verify his report. About 12:30 p.m., the Coast Guard's public affairs office said it was in constant contact with searchers in the field and had not received reports that the workers were found.

Oil and gas production has meant a lot to the Gret Stet. It has fueled much of the civic and industrial progress that pulled Louisiana out of the mud (sort of) during the Twentieth Century. At the same time it has poisoned many of us, exploded some of us, and wrought large scale environmental catastrophe that threatens to send us from the mud back into the sea. It's like one of those Faustian whaddayacallits or something. Whatever it is, it's not particularly useful to reduce the dilemmas it presents to simple slogans like the one at the top of this post.