A state newspaper this week asked readers to email them with suggestions.
“What do you think should be done to stop the oil leak,” the newspaper asked.
At first blush, it seemed an odd question to ask readers, most of whom have learned more  about deep-sea drilling in the weeks since than explosion of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico than we otherwise would have learned in a lifetime.
But after considering some of the preponderous-sounding things being done, perhaps a random reader might have a better solution.
At least 210,000 gallons of oil — and maybe more, according to some experts — continue flow daily from the severed pipeline a mile below the Gulf surface. The growing oil slick threatens coastal ecosystems, as well as tourism and seafood industries from Texas to Florida.
BP has had limited success in plugging the leak, and is siphoning approximately a fifth of the amount believed to be gushing out each day.

Every day, it seems that there’s someone or something else to blame for the blast: equipment failures, crew mistakes, lack of oversight, the list goes own.
Regardless of who or what is to blame, the government needs to find a balance in its oversight of drilling. The growing oil slick and expected devastation remind us that safety of workers and the environment is important, and tightened regulations might be our only  hope against similar calamities in the future.