Just days before the BP Deepwater oil spill, American Petroleum Institute's Rayola Dougher described the risk, as she new it, of offshore drilling: "Even if you have a rig that breaks loose, even if you have a catastrophic event, the most that can spill is what's in that pipe."
What does a catastrophic event look like? Now we know.
The debate around offshore drilling has been fundamentally changed by the disaster in the gulf. A CNN/Opinon Research survey found that support for drilling dropped 17% between August 2008 and May 2010.
But others say getting oil offshore is essential to our energy mix, and that the dangers associated with the technique are necessary risks to keep our way of life going. Watch this video by George Washington University students Ryder Haske and Elizabeth Chernef and weigh in, below.
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