When airliners crashed, killing hundreds of people, there was never any talk about shutting down the airline industry. Instead, vital safety information was learned from each and every crash and from that information new regulations and fixes were put in place to make airline travel one of the safest modes of transportation. The number of people who die in auto crashes used to be around 47,000 a year in this country. No one ever suggested to quit making cars and go back to the horse and buggy, instead, like the airlines, information gleaned from each investigation lead to new standards and regulations to make auto's much safer.

So why because of this disaster (and I don't minimize it) is there a call to quit drilling? IMHO, what needs to happen is an end to the political talk, finger pointing, and conduct an investigation that looks for the cause of the accident, and what can be done in terms of fixes and regulation to reduce the likelyhood of it happening again. Perhaps, as been suggested, the technology is outpacing the ability to make drilling deep safe. Whatever it is, and there are probably a whole host of causes (as there is in any accident), there is a lot to be learned to make better informed decisions, rather then the political knee jerk reactions and finger pointing.