Some say oil-gas bear some Katrina blame

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: AP

IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA - Service canals dug to tap oil and natural gas dart everywhere through the black mangrove shrubs, bird rushes and golden marsh. From the air, they look like a Pac-Man maze superimposed on an estuarine landscape 10 times the size of Grand Canyon National Park.

There are 10,000 miles of these oil canals. They fed America's thirst for energy, but helped bring its biggest delta to the brink of collapse. They also connect an overlooked set of dots in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath: The role that some say the oil industry played in the $135 billion disaster, the nation's costliest.

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The rate of land loss, among the highest in the world, has exposed New Orleans and hundreds of other communities to the danger of drowning. Katrina made that painfully clear.

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But many scientists say the oil industry's 10,000 miles of canals — enough to stretch nearly halfway around the world — and the drilling they supported played a decisive role. Some scientists say drilling caused half of the land loss, or about 1,000 square miles.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080120/ap_on_re_us/katrina_oil_canals

[ursi]

1. destruction comes easy to mankind ...

especially when couple with greed.