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More than plausible, sadly. When I said this could have the economic impact of an atomic bombing, I wasn't kidding. The Gulf Coast produces a huge proportion of the seafood consumed in the US and around the world, and an appropriate percentage of the local economy is tied to this. Likewise tourism, which will not simply suffer but cease to exist if the beaches are covered in oil and the fishing sucks. The Gulf is looking at tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue, work, etc. At this point, almost anything is better than doing nothing at all: If you don't fight the bear, it's going to eat you. If you -do- fight the bear, it might still eat you...but you also might live. That's where the Gulf is right now; deciding whether to fight the bear.
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