Not trying to minimize the disaster, but some perspective might help.
Federal OCS Oil Spills: 1971 to 2007
According to the 2002 NRC report, “Oil in the Sea,” 95.28 percent of oil seepage in North America was not related to the petroleum industry (drilling, producing, transportation, processing, etc.).10 MMS has comprehensive spill data for petroleum spills of one barrel or greater for the last 37 years. All
of the statistics below are specific to petroleum spills of one barrel (42 U.S. gallons) or greater of crude oil, condensate, or refined petroleum product such as diesel, lube oil, mineral oil, etc. OCS oil production refers to both crude oil and condensate (a liquid light oil product from natural gas production).
Oil spill losses during the current decade continue to show a decline from previous decades. Technological advances are a major factor in this continued improvement.
General Observations:11
Between 1971 and 2007, OCS operators have produced almost 15 billion barrels of oil. During this period, there were 2,645 spills which totaled to approximately 164,100 barrels spilled (equal to 0.001% of barrels produced) or about 1 barrel spilled for every 91,400 barrels produced.
This record has improved over time.
Between1993 and 2007, the most recent 15-year period, almost 7.5 billion barrels of oil were produced. During this period there were 651 spills totaling approximately 47,800 barrels spilled (equal to 0.0006% of barrels produced) or approximately 1 barrel spilled for every 156,900 barrels produced.
http://myfloridahouse.com/FileStores/Web/HouseContent/Approved/Web%20Site/uploads/documents/energy_exploration/Oil%20Spills%20%20and%20Oil%20Spill%20Governance.pdf
This article goes on to say the regs put in place after the Valdez has had a positive impact in this trend.
My point here is to try and suggest that maybe the govt regulators and private business have done a pretty good job (up until this latest spill) keeping oil out of the oceans. To recoil in horror and just have the "shut it down" mentality might not completely square with all of the facts.
I'm not an expert, but 42 gallons of crude spilled for evey 6,589,800 gallons produced does not seem all that bad. Then if you consider that,
of all the oil that contaminates the oceans, Mother Nature is responsible for more than 95% of the oil spilled... one can only draw the conclusion that we need to regulate/fine and punish Mother Nature (Buck, that was a joke).
EDIT:
Also, Oil and Gas concerns from the Countries of Mexico, Cuba, Russia and Brazil are either currently building platforms or are drilling in the gulf and China has intentions to drill in Cuban waters. Oil and Gas concerns from Spain, Norway, India, Malaysia, Venezuela and Viet Nam are current lease holders in Cuban waters.