What's Your Top Story of 2010?

The oil spill has got to be the top science-related story for 2010, especially because bureaucrats in the Obama administration deliberately ignored the advice of the scientists they asked for help. What could have been (and as it turns out mostly was) a mild ecological problem became inflated as being a major ecological disaster; what should have been a minor political speed-bump became a monument to the administration's stupidity, ignorance and overreaction. And as the link below shows, it continues.

Even after the ban was lifted, still no drilling...

Yep.............drilling is stalled, but gas prices keep going up!

I wonder how many people this decision is putting out of work.

So explain how it is somehow the federal governments fault, that BP hired incompetent sub contractors, who ignored the known challenges of of drilling 1 mile down? The problem with methane hydrate reacting with the concrete that was used to seal the well head was known but not understood

The well blows up, drilling platform sinks, where were the emergency response teams, that the industry should have had at the ready?

There was no plan for a blowout preventer failure. The solutions were the same as when the ixtoc platform failed 30 years before, in much shallower water.

an extraordinarily profitable industry that is able to learn how to drill a mile down, can well afford to devote the resources to develop & implement contingency plans for when it goes wrong.

Instead BP & the rest on the industry throws up it's hands & asks the feds to take over, who aren't the experts & consequently don't do a very good job