The inland Louisianans I spoke with, like Congressmen Boustany and Landry, were also adamantly opposed to Obama’s moratorium. Why? Loss of drilling revenue was one thing. But federal government “over-regulation” was another. “It’s not in the company’s own interest to have a spill or an accident. They try hard,” one woman told me. “So if there’s a spill, it’s probably the best the company could do.” Another recalled all the everyday things we use that are made from oil. One man even declared that “what caused the spill was overregulation. If the government hadn’t been looking over BP’s
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