It is indeed sad to watch what is likely coming to the beaches and knowing there is little man can do to prevent it despite an all-out effort. Think too of the men who died when the rig exploded. We may never know the real cause of the explosion, but we should be compassionate toward those who lost their lives because of it.
In our lifetimes we will likely never be free from the need for more oil. Maybe if some other technique had been discovered and developed a hundred years ago, we would not be in the predicament we are in today....to constantly need to find more underground reserves. But until another widescale economical source of energy is found, we will continue to need oil. We will continue to drill and will continue to risk such as we see today.
There are no easy answers. Even those who decry drilling and its dangers use the oil that is found. We can only hope for the future and a renewable resource to replace oil. May God be with us in the coming days and in our future development.