This morning in the gulf, there was an explosion -- and there continues to be a fire, as of the afternoon -- on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. All the workers are accounted for -- one injury and no deaths -- yet now a mile-long oil sheen is being reported in the waters near the explosion site. My current worry is that the conspiracy theories about it are going to overshadow the explosion, the fire, the oil spill, and all their consequences.

Already some people have stated they think this latest explosion was: (1) the work of environmental groups like Greenpeace, because it wants to showcase how dangerous and explosion-prone oil rigs are by setting another one on fire; (2) the work of the Obama administration, which is receiving a lot of criticism because of its six-month moratorium on deepwater offshore oil drilling, because it needs more evidence supporting the moratorium as its Nov. 30 end date approaches; or (3) is somehow related to Vermilion Energy converting to a corporation.

It has been only hours since the explosion happened so the lack of details likely fans these conspiracy theory flames, but those conspiracy theories have the power to lessen the seriousness of this explosion/fire/oil spill. People begin to think it was premeditated because what are the odds that something like this happens so soon after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was temporarily plugged?

And with those thoughts, the serious problems concerning safety regulations (this oil rig has had four accidents since 2000, two of them fires), environmental effects of the oil spill, and oil dependence go to the back of people's minds. Here's hoping further facts/details can put the conspiracy theories to rest.