Mike Williams, who was working on the drilling rig, was interviewed very recently on "60 Minutes" on CBS (CLICKY). He stated that an official from BP complained that the drilling procedure was taking too long and costing too much money. He ordered changes in the normal drilling practices and insisted that they "speed it up!"

When experienced oil drillers protested, he—a paper-pushing, bean-counting desk jockey—ignored their cautionary advice and insisted that they do as he said.

Pretty harrowing! He and a co-worker, a young woman, had their choice between staying on the drilling platform and blowing up with it, or jumping into the water some 90 feet below.

It makes no difference whether it's BP, Exxon, Shell, or Charlie Farquarson and his backyard drilling rig, the kind of greed and carelessness that leads to disasters of this sort is to be condemned.

Don Firth