Rich Lowry Lies About Oil

Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review magazine and ocassional guest-host of Sean Hannity's television show, recently appeared on FOX News to tell some whoppers about oil. I just want to concentrate on one right now:

"LOWRY: We talk about the environment with the offshore, really have, you know, 4,000 or whatever it is platforms out there in the Gulf of Mexico unaffected by two major hurricanes, Hurricane Rita and Katrina, so I think -- it sounds, Governor, you're coming over to my side than Barack Obama's."

This is screamingly wrong. In reality, these two hurricanes had a pretty big effect. I looked up the statistics from the Department of Homeland Security, and it turns out that the two hurricanes spilled 9 million gallons of oil from six major and five medium spills. In addition, there had been 5,000 minor oil spills. 113 platforms were destroyed. 457 pipelines were damaged. In its damage assessment, the Minerals Management Service noted that pipeline damage around the continental shelf contributed 17,700 barrels (743,400 gallons) of spilled oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

You could even see the oil slicks, 10 miles wide, from space (click here to see satellite photos).