When president barack obama announced on March 31 that he would support expanded offshore oil and natural gas drilling-overturning a decades-long moratorium on new energy exploration-environmentalists warned that he was nlavine with fire. It didn't take them lone to sav. Tollrnwas playing with fire. It didn't take them long to say, Told you so. On April 20, an explosion rocked the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers onboard and leaving the operation crippled. The deaths were tragic enough, but when the rig began to sink on April 22, it opened the door to a new danger: an oil spill that could blanket the Gulf Coast.rnOn April 24, the Coast Guard reported that more than 40,000 gal. of crude oil a day was leaking into Gulf waters just 50 miles south of the coast of Louisiana. Within days, the spill had produced an oil sheen more than 1,800 sq. mi. large, threatening the sensitive Gulf coastline, home to seabirds and marine mammals along with prime fishing and tourist spots.
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