Are we doomed to repeat history?

This evening at least 11 people were killed when The Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. If ever there were a reason to evaluate our dependency on oil & car centered society, this is most definitely it. Unless of course you count the almost identical incident that occurred on June 13th, 1979. Hopefully those responsible for resolving the current catastrophe can learn a thing or two from the mishandling of the Ixtoc spill. Before all was said and done approximately 3.3 million barrels of oil were dumped into the gulf . It was more than 9 months before this disaster was contained. Despite reports that there is little evidence of this mammoth calamity more than 30 years later, it is very hard to believe that it has all just been deleted from the environment. Let's hope that the lessons of this debacle can at least serve to avoid the repetition of history.