Although there was some talk last week of burning the oil slick to reduce the damage from the spill in accordance with a 15 year old plan, but did not follow through because the necessary equipment was not in place. As a result of this and other decisions, a “containable accident” became a crisis. Worse still, only a small fraction of the spill is likely to cleaned up, although this may be a blessing in disguise since some believe that clean-up efforts could cause more damage than the spill itself.