There’s been a lot of talk since President Bush and John McCain’s proposal to end the offshore drilling ban about the feasibility and potential dangers of the plan. It’s proponents have been especially fond of citing the data that suggests that oil spills are a thing of the past, recent disasters in San Francisco and Hurricane Katrina notwithstanding.

I hope the oil spill in the Mississippi river near New Orleans puts all of that to rest.

The optimists have already rolled out their shiniest version of events:

The spill is much smaller than the ones that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the Coast Guard estimated that more than 7 million gallons of oil were dumped into the Mississippi and nearby waterways.

That’s right: the GOOD news is that it’s smaller than 7 million gallons. In fact, it’s only 416,000 gallons. However, that’s a lot more oil than you might think.

For 416,000 gallons, you can:

• Cover 90% of the Mississippi river, even at it’s widest point
• Cost the area $275 million dollars a day
• Require 104,000 feet of containment sheets

Related posts:

1. What You Can Do to Stop Offshore Drilling President Bush announced today that he is going to...
2. Did Obama “sell out” on Offshore Oil Drilling? Well? The biggest political news item at the start...
3. Breaking: Congress Approves Offshore Drilling The NYTimes reports: The House on Tuesday night approved...
4. Pelosi reverses on offshore drilling too; Environment needs politicians with spine House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reversed her own position on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you enjoyed this post, why not or subscribe! for updates on more political and environmental coverage like this.