Rush Limbaugh: Oil Spill is Natural

[SpidermanTuba]

I'm sorry, I forgot you were a mentally retarded dumb whore

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090323-exxon-anniversary.html

What are you, 12? Jesus.

Which is it? An eco disaster from which we will never recover? Or something that, given 20 years will be okay again?

And what about the oil in Plaquemines after Katrina? Where did that go? And after only five years?

I'd say Spidey is about 16 years old.....: He is really hoping that this spill turns into an ecological nightmare.

I hope you suck on a tar ball and choke to death.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

I'm sorry, I forgot you were a mentally retarded dumb whore

Exxon Valdez Anniversary: 20 Years Later, Oil Remains

What are you, 12? Jesus.

Which is it? An eco disaster from which we will never recover? Or something that, given 20 years will be okay again?

And what about the oil in Plaquemines after Katrina? Where did that go? And after only five years?

I'd say Spidey is about 16 years old.....: He is really hoping that this spill turns into an ecological nightmare.

16? I thought he was 12!

 

[Nosmo King]

Liberal nutjobs are just praying that this spill turns into an ecological nightmare......

What would motivate you to think this? What possible good can come from this disaster?


Are you so inculcated with the dreck spewed by the likes of the addict Limbaugh that you have become cynical and dubious? Only someone who would actually harbor thoughts of making an obvious ecological disaster worse to gain political points himself would jump to such a boneheaded conclusion.

By your logic, the shootings at Columbine could have been viewed by right wing nut jobs as a way to get more weapons into schools. "Destroy the village to save the village." This is the shallowest logic and the weakest form of argument.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

Rush Limbaugh says there's no reason to spend millions of dollars cleaning up that massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The conservative radio host said the spill is a natural occcurence:

“The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It’s natural. It’s as natural as the ocean water is.”

Opposing Views: Rush Limbaugh: Oil Spill is Natural

This man (and every one of his fans who actually thinks this man is credible) is an idiot!

Represent Rush, represent.

Of course Zone isn't honest enough to provide the full text of what Rush said. But I will.

RUSH: Our official climatologist, Dr. Roy Spencer has just sent me something. I've been wondering about this. He must have been reading my mind. We've got 5,000 barrels a day being spilled from the rig, and Dr. Spencer looked into it. You know, we've talked of this before. There's natural seepage into oceans all over the world from the ocean floor of oil -- and the ocean's pretty tough, it just eats it up. Dr. Spencer looked into this. You know the seepage from the floor of the Gulf is exactly 5,000 barrels a day, throughout the whole Gulf of Mexico now. It doesn't seep out all in one giant blob like this thing has, but the bottom line here is: Even places that have been devastated by oil slicks like... What was that place up in Alaska where the guy was drunk, ran a boat aground? (interruption) Prince William Sound. They were wiping off the rocks with Dawn dishwater detergent and paper towels and so forth. The place is pristine now.
You do survive these things. I'm not advocating don't care about it hitting the shore or coast and whatever you can do to keep it out of there is fine and dandy, but the ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and was left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is. (interruption) Well, the turtles may take a hit for a while, but so what? So do we! Hell, remember that story we had at the beginning of the show: The barred owl that flew into the windshield of the Wentzville, Missouri, fire truck, and they got to the fire and the thing was still hanging on out there. It had a broken wing and they took it to some animal veterinary sanctuary or hospital or something. Just give it a pain pill! Why not? That's what they had for us, and we don't even launch ourselves into the windshields of fire trucks.

Regime SWAT Teams Sent to Gulf

I am glad you posted this. He said Prince William sound is pritine now? Do you have any idea how wrong this is?

Omg, this man and his fans are idiots. Fucking idiots.

Twenty Years Later, Impacts of the Exxon Valdez Linger by Doug Struck: Yale Environment 360

Today, 20 years after the largest spill in U.S. waters, the oil that gushed from the hull of the Exxon Valdez is still having effects.

In his opinion it is pristine. In your opinion Rush's fan are idiots. Both of you are entitled to your opinion no matter how wrong they are. Fact is Rush is right about nature taking care of itself. Oil seeps out of the ground naturally and has been doing so for a very long time.

The infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the largest in U.S. history, dumped more than 10 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound.

While the amount of oil and its ultimate fate in such manmade disasters is well known, the effect and size of natural oil seeps on the ocean floor is murkier. A new study finds that the natural petroleum seeps off Santa Barbara, Calif., have leaked out the equivalent of about eight to 80 Exxon Valdez oil spills over hundreds of thousands of years.

These spills create an oil fallout shadow that contaminates the sediments around the seep, with the oil content decreasing farther from the seep.

There is effectively an oil spill every day at Coal Oil Point (COP), the natural seeps off Santa Barbara where 20 to 25 tons of oil have leaked from the seafloor each day for the last several hundred thousand years. The oil from natural seeps and from man-made spills are both formed from the decay of buried fossil remains that are transformed over millions of years through exposure to heat and pressure.

Natural Oil 'Spills': Surprising Amount Seeps into the Sea | LiveScience

 

[Ravi]

Rush Limbaugh says there's no reason to spend millions of dollars cleaning up that massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The conservative radio host said the spill is a natural occcurence:

“The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It’s natural. It’s as natural as the ocean water is.”

Opposing Views: Rush Limbaugh: Oil Spill is Natural

This man (and every one of his fans who actually thinks this man is credible) is an idiot!

Represent Rush, represent.

Rush is natural, too. But that doesn't mean a drug addicted overweight hate monger that visits countries that specialize in the child sex trade with a huge bottle of Viagra is a good thing.

 

[Zona]

Liberal nutjobs are just praying that this spill turns into an ecological nightmare......

Link?

 

[Zona]

Liberal nutjobs are just praying that this spill turns into an ecological nightmare......

No kidding.

Love your sig. I wonder why you used a quote by me? Where did you get that idea? By the way, I loved that thread you took that quote from. It really did bring out a lot of info some people didn't know about you. Wow.

 

[Mr Natural]

Liberal nutjobs are just praying that this spill turns into an ecological nightmare......

It's already an ecological nightmare.

 

[Nosmo King]

Liberal nutjobs are just praying that this spill turns into an ecological nightmare......

It's already an ecological nightmare.

The Righties have never seen pollution that is bad. Apparently, pollution only means jobs and progress and, as such, is a necessary byproduct of an expanding economy. Anyone standing up for a cleaner planet is a "whacko" and deserves to be chided and minimized before they start making sense.

 

[Zander]

Liberal nutjobs are just praying that this spill turns into an ecological nightmare......

It's already an ecological nightmare.

The Righties have never seen pollution that is bad. Apparently, pollution only means jobs and progress and, as such, is a necessary byproduct of an expanding economy. Anyone standing up for a cleaner planet is a "whacko" and deserves to be chided and minimized before they start making sense.

Don't forget we are all "RACISTS" too!!

Seriously, liberals can't deny that there are environmental wacko's that are going to use this disaster to call for the end of all offshore drilling. They are already doing it....

Gulf of Mexico oil spill: environmentalists call for moratoruim on offshore drilling

 

[Nosmo King]

It's already an ecological nightmare.

The Righties have never seen pollution that is bad. Apparently, pollution only means jobs and progress and, as such, is a necessary byproduct of an expanding economy. Anyone standing up for a cleaner planet is a "whacko" and deserves to be chided and minimized before they start making sense.

Don't forget we are all "RACISTS" too!!

Seriously, liberals can't deny that there are environmental wacko's that are going to use this disaster to call for the end of all offshore drilling. They are already doing it....

Gulf of Mexico oil spill: environmentalists call for moratoruim on offshore drilling

well, let's take a beat to tally the scorecard.

BP and other oil companies are not submitting the complete contingency plans to avoid another disaster. There are those who fervently believe that further off shore drilling is a way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We here in America have a very small percentage of the world's oil reserves, yet we use exponentially more oil than any other developed economy.

Would it strike you as reasonable to stop further drilling until all the necessary safeguards and contingency plans are in place?

Or, would you say that the BP disaster is just the cost of doing business and full steam ahead with drilling no matter what the environmental and ancillary economic damage might be?

 

[Zander]

The Righties have never seen pollution that is bad. Apparently, pollution only means jobs and progress and, as such, is a necessary byproduct of an expanding economy. Anyone standing up for a cleaner planet is a "whacko" and deserves to be chided and minimized before they start making sense.

Don't forget we are all "RACISTS" too!!

Seriously, liberals can't deny that there are environmental wacko's that are going to use this disaster to call for the end of all offshore drilling. They are already doing it....

Gulf of Mexico oil spill: environmentalists call for moratoruim on offshore drilling

well, let's take a beat to tally the scorecard.

BP and other oil companies are not submitting the complete contingency plans to avoid another disaster. There are those who fervently believe that further off shore drilling is a way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We here in America have a very small percentage of the world's oil reserves, yet we use exponentially more oil than any other developed economy.

Would it strike you as reasonable to stop further drilling until all the necessary safeguards and contingency plans are in place?

Or, would you say that the BP disaster is just the cost of doing business and full steam ahead with drilling no matter what the environmental and ancillary economic damage might be?

Thanks for making my point.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Rush Limbaugh says there's no reason to spend millions of dollars cleaning up that massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The conservative radio host said the spill is a natural occcurence:

“The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It’s natural. It’s as natural as the ocean water is.”

Opposing Views: Rush Limbaugh: Oil Spill is Natural

This man (and every one of his fans who actually thinks this man is credible) is an idiot!

Represent Rush, represent.

I'm not going to bother explaining to you what he was truly saying since you have taken it without its context. Here just study this

 

[Gatekeeper]

Well, I can remember my first visits to the ocean or 60 some years ago and I recall stepping in and around TAR BALLS then. Petroleum does leak into the oceans of the world, so what, we just helped it along a little with a massive screw up due in part to power and greed and just plain bad luck, something that was inevitable.

If we want to live with the goodies we have today, then we take the consequences when things go wrong. It's the fault of everyone on the planet that demands having the "comfy's of life". Oh well............

 

[Nosmo King]

Don't forget we are all "RACISTS" too!!

Seriously, liberals can't deny that there are environmental wacko's that are going to use this disaster to call for the end of all offshore drilling. They are already doing it....

Gulf of Mexico oil spill: environmentalists call for moratoruim on offshore drilling

well, let's take a beat to tally the scorecard.

BP and other oil companies are not submitting the complete contingency plans to avoid another disaster. There are those who fervently believe that further off shore drilling is a way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We here in America have a very small percentage of the world's oil reserves, yet we use exponentially more oil than any other developed economy.

Would it strike you as reasonable to stop further drilling until all the necessary safeguards and contingency plans are in place?

Or, would you say that the BP disaster is just the cost of doing business and full steam ahead with drilling no matter what the environmental and ancillary economic damage might be?

Thanks for making my point.

So, to recap, it's a whacko position to ensure safe, clean drilling? And, conversely, the sane practical thing to do is ignore safeguards and drill baby drill?

Who's the "whacko" here?

 

[Nosmo King]

Well, I can remember my first visits to the ocean or 60 some years ago and I recall stepping in and around TAR BALLS then. Petroleum does leak into the oceans of the world, so what, we just helped it along a little with a massive screw up due in part to power and greed and just plain bad luck, something that was inevitable.

If we want to live with the goodies we have today, then we take the consequences when things go wrong. It's the fault of everyone on the planet that demands having the "comfy's of life". Oh well............

Are you imagining those tar balls as naturally occurring things? Could it be that 60 odd years ago, there were ships spilling oil?

 

[Zander]

well, let's take a beat to tally the scorecard.

BP and other oil companies are not submitting the complete contingency plans to avoid another disaster. There are those who fervently believe that further off shore drilling is a way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We here in America have a very small percentage of the world's oil reserves, yet we use exponentially more oil than any other developed economy.

Would it strike you as reasonable to stop further drilling until all the necessary safeguards and contingency plans are in place?

Or, would you say that the BP disaster is just the cost of doing business and full steam ahead with drilling no matter what the environmental and ancillary economic damage might be?

Thanks for making my point.

So, to recap, it's a whacko position to ensure safe, clean drilling? And, conversely, the sane practical thing to do is ignore safeguards and drill baby drill?

Who's the "whacko" here?

You are proposing that because of one accident in 30 years, all off shore drilling should be suspended. That sounds extreme to me.

Should we investigate BP and ensure that their rigs are meeting all safety guidelines? Of course. Should we stop all drilling like the nutjobs want? NO.

It is like you saying that because you were in a car accident the other day, all driving should be suspended.

 

[Gatekeeper]

Well, I can remember my first visits to the ocean or 60 some years ago and I recall stepping in and around TAR BALLS then. Petroleum does leak into the oceans of the world, so what, we just helped it along a little with a massive screw up due in part to power and greed and just plain bad luck, something that was inevitable.

If we want to live with the goodies we have today, then we take the consequences when things go wrong. It's the fault of everyone on the planet that demands having the "comfy's of life". Oh well............

Are you imagining those tar balls as naturally occurring things? Could it be that 60 odd years ago, there were ships spilling oil?

Of course ships spilling, humans dumping, and who knows how many other sources. Thanks for bringing that up.

 

[Nosmo King]

Thanks for making my point.

So, to recap, it's a whacko position to ensure safe, clean drilling? And, conversely, the sane practical thing to do is ignore safeguards and drill baby drill?

Who's the "whacko" here?

You are proposing that because of one accident in 30 years, all off shore drilling should be suspended. That sounds extreme to me.

Should we investigate BP and ensure that their rigs are meeting all safety guidelines? Of course. Should we stop all drilling like the nutjobs want? NO.

It is like you saying that because you were in a car accident the other day, all driving should be suspended.

Your problem, aside from a lack of knowledge of the environmental impact of off shore drilling, is a woefully short memory. Let's take a look at history.

Oil Spills and Disasters — Infoplease.com

1967
March 18, Cornwall, Eng.: Torrey Canyon ran aground, spilling 38 million gallons of crude oil off the Scilly Islands.
1976
Dec. 15, Buzzards Bay, Mass.: Argo Merchant ran aground and broke apart southeast of Nantucket Island, spilling its entire cargo of 7.7 million gallons of fuel oil.
1977
April, North Sea: blowout of well in Ekofisk oil field leaked 81 million gallons.
1978
March 16, off Portsall, France: wrecked supertanker Amoco Cadiz spilled 68 million gallons, causing widespread environmental damage over 100 mi of Brittany coast.
1979
June 3, Gulf of Mexico: exploratory oil well Ixtoc 1 blew out, spilling an estimated 140 million gallons of crude oil into the open sea. Although it is one of the largest known oil spills, it had a low environmental impact.
July 19, Tobago: the Atlantic Empress and the Aegean Captain collided, spilling 46 million gallons of crude. While being towed, the Atlantic Empress spilled an additional 41 million gallons off Barbados on Aug. 2.
1980
March 30, Stavanger, Norway: floating hotel in North Sea collapsed, killing 123 oil workers.
1983
Feb. 4, Persian Gulf, Iran: Nowruz Field platform spilled 80 million gallons of oil.
Aug. 6, Cape Town, South Africa: the Spanish tanker Castillo de Bellver caught fire, spilling 78 million gallons of oil off the coast.
1988
July 6, North Sea off Scotland: 166 workers killed in explosion and fire on Occidental Petroleum's Piper Alpha rig in North Sea; 64 survivors. It is the world's worst offshore oil disaster.
Nov. 10, Saint John's, Newfoundland: Odyssey spilled 43 million gallons of oil.
1989
March 24, Prince William Sound, Alaska: tanker Exxon Valdez hit an undersea reef and spilled 10 million–plus gallons of oil into the water, causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Dec. 19, off Las Palmas, the Canary Islands: explosion in Iranian supertanker, the Kharg-5, caused 19 million gallons of crude oil to spill into Atlantic Ocean about 400 mi north of Las Palmas, forming a 100-square-mile oil slick.
1990
June 8, off Galveston, Tex.: Mega Borg released 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston as a result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room.
1991
Jan. 23–27, southern Kuwait: during the Persian Gulf War, Iraq deliberately released 240–460 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf from tankers 10 mi off Kuwait. Spill had little military significance. On Jan. 27, U.S. warplanes bombed pipe systems to stop the flow of oil.
April 11, Genoa, Italy: Haven spilled 42 million gallons of oil in Genoa port.
May 28, Angola: ABT Summer exploded and leaked 15–78 million gallons of oil off the coast of Angola. It's not clear how much sank or burned.
1992
March 2, Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan: 88 million gallons of oil spilled from an oil well.
1993
Aug. 10, Tampa Bay, Fla.: three ships collided, the barge Bouchard B155, the freighter Balsa 37, and the barge Ocean 255. The Bouchard spilled an estimated 336,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil into Tampa Bay.
1994
Sept. 8, Russia: dam built to contain oil burst and spilled oil into Kolva River tributary. U.S. Energy Department estimated spill at 2 million barrels. Russian state-owned oil company claimed spill was only 102,000 barrels.
1996
Feb. 15, off Welsh coast: supertanker Sea Empress ran aground at port of Milford Haven, Wales, spewed out 70,000 tons of crude oil, and created a 25-mile slick.
1999
Dec. 12, French Atlantic coast: Maltese-registered tanker Erika broke apart and sank off Britanny, spilling 3 million gallons of heavy oil into the sea.
2000
Jan. 18, off Rio de Janeiro: ruptured pipeline owned by government oil company, Petrobras, spewed 343,200 gallons of heavy oil into Guanabara Bay.
Nov. 28, Mississippi River south of New Orleans: oil tanker Westchester lost power and ran aground near Port Sulphur, La., dumping 567,000 gallons of crude oil into lower Mississippi. Spill was largest in U.S. waters since Exxon Valdez disaster in March 1989.
2002
Nov. 13, Spain: Prestige suffered a damaged hull and was towed to sea and sank. Much of the 20 million gallons of oil remains underwater.
2003
July 28, Pakistan: The Tasman Spirit, a tanker, ran aground near the Karachi port, and eventually cracked into two pieces. One of its four oil tanks burst open, leaking 28,000 tons of crude oil into the sea.
2004
Dec. 7, Unalaska, Aleutian Islands, Alaska: A major storm pushed the M/V Selendang Ayu up onto a rocky shore, breaking it in two. 337,000 gallons of oil were released, most of which was driven onto the shoreline of Makushin and Skan Bays.
2005
Aug.-Sept., New Orleans, Louisiana: The Coast Guard estimated that more than 7 million gallons of oil were spilled during Hurricane Katrina from various sources, including pipelines, storage tanks and industrial plants.
2006
June 19, Calcasieu River, Louisiana: An estimated 71,000 barrels of waste oil were released from a tank at the CITGO Refinery on the Calcasieu River during a violent rain storm.
July 15, Beirut, Lebanon: The Israeli navy bombs the Jieh coast power station, and between three million and ten million gallons of oil leaks into the sea, affecting nearly 100 miles of coastline. A coastal blockade, a result of the war, greatly hampers outside clean-up efforts.
August 11th, Guimaras island, The Philippines: A tanker carrying 530,000 gallons of oil sinks off the coast of the Philippines, putting the country's fishing and tourism industries at great risk. The ship sinks in deep water, making it virtually unrecoverable, and it continues to emit oil into the ocean as other nations are called in to assist in the massive clean-up effort.
2007
December 7, South Korea: Oil spill causes environmental disaster, destroying beaches, coating birds and oysters with oil, and driving away tourists with its stench. The Hebei Spirit collides with a steel wire connecting a tug boat and barge five miles off South Korea's west coast, spilling 2.8 million gallons of crude oil. Seven thousand people are trying to clean up 12 miles of oil-coated coast.
2008
July 25, New Orleans, Louisiana: A 61-foot barge, carrying 419,000 gallons of heavy fuel, collides with a 600-foot tanker ship in the Mississippi River near New Orleans. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel leak from the barge, causing a halt to all river traffic while cleanup efforts commence to limit the environmental fallout on local wildlife.
2009
March 11, Queensland, Australia: During Cyclone Hamish, unsecured cargo aboard the container ship MV Pacific Adventurer came loose on deck and caused the release of 52,000 gallons of heavy fuel and 620 tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer, into the Coral Sea. About 60 km of the Sunshine Coast was covered in oil, prompting the closure of half the area's beaches.
2010
Jan. 23, Port Arthur, Texas: The oil tanker Eagle Otome and a barge collide in the Sabine-Neches Waterway, causing the release of about 462,000 gallons of crude oil. Environmental damage was minimal as about 46,000 gallons were recovered and 175,000 gallons were dispersed or evaporated, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
April 24, Gulf of Mexico: The Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible drilling rig, sank on April 22, after an April 20th explosion on the vessel. Eleven people died in the blast. When the rig sank, the riser—the 5,000-foot-long pipe that connects the wellhead to the rig—became detached and began leaking oil. In addition, U.S. Coast Guard investigators discovered a leak in the wellhead itself. As much as 25,000 barrels (1,050,000 gallons) of oil per day were leaking into the water, threatening wildlife along the Louisiana Coast. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared it a "spill of national significance." As many as 1,000 people and dozens of ships and aircraft were enlisted to help in the cleanup. BP (British Petroleum), which leased the Deepwater Horizon, is responsible for the cleanup, but the U.S. Navy supplied the company with resources to help contain the slick. Oil reached the Louisiana shore on April 30, and there was widespread consensus that the spill would dwarf the Exxon Valdez in terms of environmental damage.

You are proposing that because of one accident in 30 years, all off shore drilling should be suspended. That sounds extreme to me.

So much for that bit of sophistry!

 

[Zander]

So, to recap, it's a whacko position to ensure safe, clean drilling? And, conversely, the sane practical thing to do is ignore safeguards and drill baby drill?

Who's the "whacko" here?

You are proposing that because of one accident in 30 years, all off shore drilling should be suspended. That sounds extreme to me.

Should we investigate BP and ensure that their rigs are meeting all safety guidelines? Of course. Should we stop all drilling like the nutjobs want? NO.

It is like you saying that because you were in a car accident the other day, all driving should be suspended.

Your problem, aside from a lack of knowledge of the environmental impact of off shore drilling, is a woefully short memory. Let's take a look at history.

Oil Spills and Disasters — Infoplease.com

1967
March 18, Cornwall, Eng.: Torrey Canyon ran aground, spilling 38 million gallons of crude oil off the Scilly Islands.
1976
Dec. 15, Buzzards Bay, Mass.: Argo Merchant ran aground and broke apart southeast of Nantucket Island, spilling its entire cargo of 7.7 million gallons of fuel oil.
1977
April, North Sea: blowout of well in Ekofisk oil field leaked 81 million gallons.
1978
March 16, off Portsall, France: wrecked supertanker Amoco Cadiz spilled 68 million gallons, causing widespread environmental damage over 100 mi of Brittany coast.
1979
June 3, Gulf of Mexico: exploratory oil well Ixtoc 1 blew out, spilling an estimated 140 million gallons of crude oil into the open sea. Although it is one of the largest known oil spills, it had a low environmental impact.
July 19, Tobago: the Atlantic Empress and the Aegean Captain collided, spilling 46 million gallons of crude. While being towed, the Atlantic Empress spilled an additional 41 million gallons off Barbados on Aug. 2.
1980
March 30, Stavanger, Norway: floating hotel in North Sea collapsed, killing 123 oil workers.
1983
Feb. 4, Persian Gulf, Iran: Nowruz Field platform spilled 80 million gallons of oil.
Aug. 6, Cape Town, South Africa: the Spanish tanker Castillo de Bellver caught fire, spilling 78 million gallons of oil off the coast.
1988
July 6, North Sea off Scotland: 166 workers killed in explosion and fire on Occidental Petroleum's Piper Alpha rig in North Sea; 64 survivors. It is the world's worst offshore oil disaster.
Nov. 10, Saint John's, Newfoundland: Odyssey spilled 43 million gallons of oil.
1989
March 24, Prince William Sound, Alaska: tanker Exxon Valdez hit an undersea reef and spilled 10 million–plus gallons of oil into the water, causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Dec. 19, off Las Palmas, the Canary Islands: explosion in Iranian supertanker, the Kharg-5, caused 19 million gallons of crude oil to spill into Atlantic Ocean about 400 mi north of Las Palmas, forming a 100-square-mile oil slick.
1990
June 8, off Galveston, Tex.: Mega Borg released 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston as a result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room.
1991
Jan. 23–27, southern Kuwait: during the Persian Gulf War, Iraq deliberately released 240–460 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf from tankers 10 mi off Kuwait. Spill had little military significance. On Jan. 27, U.S. warplanes bombed pipe systems to stop the flow of oil.
April 11, Genoa, Italy: Haven spilled 42 million gallons of oil in Genoa port.
May 28, Angola: ABT Summer exploded and leaked 15–78 million gallons of oil off the coast of Angola. It's not clear how much sank or burned.
1992
March 2, Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan: 88 million gallons of oil spilled from an oil well.
1993
Aug. 10, Tampa Bay, Fla.: three ships collided, the barge Bouchard B155, the freighter Balsa 37, and the barge Ocean 255. The Bouchard spilled an estimated 336,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil into Tampa Bay.
1994
Sept. 8, Russia: dam built to contain oil burst and spilled oil into Kolva River tributary. U.S. Energy Department estimated spill at 2 million barrels. Russian state-owned oil company claimed spill was only 102,000 barrels.
1996
Feb. 15, off Welsh coast: supertanker Sea Empress ran aground at port of Milford Haven, Wales, spewed out 70,000 tons of crude oil, and created a 25-mile slick.
1999
Dec. 12, French Atlantic coast: Maltese-registered tanker Erika broke apart and sank off Britanny, spilling 3 million gallons of heavy oil into the sea.
2000
Jan. 18, off Rio de Janeiro: ruptured pipeline owned by government oil company, Petrobras, spewed 343,200 gallons of heavy oil into Guanabara Bay.
Nov. 28, Mississippi River south of New Orleans: oil tanker Westchester lost power and ran aground near Port Sulphur, La., dumping 567,000 gallons of crude oil into lower Mississippi. Spill was largest in U.S. waters since Exxon Valdez disaster in March 1989.
2002
Nov. 13, Spain: Prestige suffered a damaged hull and was towed to sea and sank. Much of the 20 million gallons of oil remains underwater.
2003
July 28, Pakistan: The Tasman Spirit, a tanker, ran aground near the Karachi port, and eventually cracked into two pieces. One of its four oil tanks burst open, leaking 28,000 tons of crude oil into the sea.
2004
Dec. 7, Unalaska, Aleutian Islands, Alaska: A major storm pushed the M/V Selendang Ayu up onto a rocky shore, breaking it in two. 337,000 gallons of oil were released, most of which was driven onto the shoreline of Makushin and Skan Bays.
2005
Aug.-Sept., New Orleans, Louisiana: The Coast Guard estimated that more than 7 million gallons of oil were spilled during Hurricane Katrina from various sources, including pipelines, storage tanks and industrial plants.
2006
June 19, Calcasieu River, Louisiana: An estimated 71,000 barrels of waste oil were released from a tank at the CITGO Refinery on the Calcasieu River during a violent rain storm.
July 15, Beirut, Lebanon: The Israeli navy bombs the Jieh coast power station, and between three million and ten million gallons of oil leaks into the sea, affecting nearly 100 miles of coastline. A coastal blockade, a result of the war, greatly hampers outside clean-up efforts.
August 11th, Guimaras island, The Philippines: A tanker carrying 530,000 gallons of oil sinks off the coast of the Philippines, putting the country's fishing and tourism industries at great risk. The ship sinks in deep water, making it virtually unrecoverable, and it continues to emit oil into the ocean as other nations are called in to assist in the massive clean-up effort.
2007
December 7, South Korea: Oil spill causes environmental disaster, destroying beaches, coating birds and oysters with oil, and driving away tourists with its stench. The Hebei Spirit collides with a steel wire connecting a tug boat and barge five miles off South Korea's west coast, spilling 2.8 million gallons of crude oil. Seven thousand people are trying to clean up 12 miles of oil-coated coast.
2008
July 25, New Orleans, Louisiana: A 61-foot barge, carrying 419,000 gallons of heavy fuel, collides with a 600-foot tanker ship in the Mississippi River near New Orleans. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel leak from the barge, causing a halt to all river traffic while cleanup efforts commence to limit the environmental fallout on local wildlife.
2009
March 11, Queensland, Australia: During Cyclone Hamish, unsecured cargo aboard the container ship MV Pacific Adventurer came loose on deck and caused the release of 52,000 gallons of heavy fuel and 620 tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer, into the Coral Sea. About 60 km of the Sunshine Coast was covered in oil, prompting the closure of half the area's beaches.
2010
Jan. 23, Port Arthur, Texas: The oil tanker Eagle Otome and a barge collide in the Sabine-Neches Waterway, causing the release of about 462,000 gallons of crude oil. Environmental damage was minimal as about 46,000 gallons were recovered and 175,000 gallons were dispersed or evaporated, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
April 24, Gulf of Mexico: The Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible drilling rig, sank on April 22, after an April 20th explosion on the vessel. Eleven people died in the blast. When the rig sank, the riser—the 5,000-foot-long pipe that connects the wellhead to the rig—became detached and began leaking oil. In addition, U.S. Coast Guard investigators discovered a leak in the wellhead itself. As much as 25,000 barrels (1,050,000 gallons) of oil per day were leaking into the water, threatening wildlife along the Louisiana Coast. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared it a "spill of national significance." As many as 1,000 people and dozens of ships and aircraft were enlisted to help in the cleanup. BP (British Petroleum), which leased the Deepwater Horizon, is responsible for the cleanup, but the U.S. Navy supplied the company with resources to help contain the slick. Oil reached the Louisiana shore on April 30, and there was widespread consensus that the spill would dwarf the Exxon Valdez in terms of environmental damage.

You are proposing that because of one accident in 30 years, all off shore drilling should be suspended. That sounds extreme to me.

So much for that bit of sophistry!

Sophistry indeed.
A quick glance at your list reveals that the great majority of the oil spills were caused by tankers. If you stop drilling in the Gulf, we will still need Oil. We will purchase it from foreign governments and corporations. They will transport it to us using...you guesed it, TANKERS!!! You will put more tankers on the seas even though Offshore oil wells are far safer than tankers. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense......