Given that the practice of deepwater oil drilling is reponsible for this growing environmental disaster of unknown (but certainly catastrophic) proportions, you might wonder whether we're going to keep doing it or not. Well, as it turns out, the oil industry projects that deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico—which accounts for 30 percent of domestic oil production and 90 percent of domestic offshore production—is going to grow substantially over the coming years. That's because it's the last frontier in oil exploration and we've run out of other options and we're addicted to the stuff. Not because it's particularly safe.
Given that the practice of deepwater oil drilling is reponsible for this growing environmental disaster of unknown (but certainly catastrophic) proportions, you might wonder whether we're going to keep doing it or not. Well, as it turns out, the oil industry projects that deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico—which accounts for 30 percent of domestic oil production and 90 percent of domestic offshore production—is going to grow substantially over the coming years. That's because it's the last frontier in oil exploration and we've run out of other options and we're addicted to the stuff. Not because it's particularly safe.