Is this the future for Florida?

A chemical tanker collided today with a fuel barge from one of three nearby refineries in the Mississippi River near New Orleans, causing the barge to split in half and spill 420,000 gallons of oil into the waterways.

A sheen at least 12 miles long spread down river, and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said efforts were being made to minimize the impact on air and water quality and wildlife.

Drinking water intakes were diverted or closed in the area and citizens were asked to conserve water use to maximize supplies on hand pending resumption of water treatment operations, the New Orleans water department said.

Floridians have been told that Louisiana and Alabama allow drilling off their coasts and nothing bad ever happens to them. Right.

The Coast Guard has deployed 45,000 feet of inflatable booms to contain the spill and is lining up another 29,000 feet, but it could be days before the river is reopened, she said.

The accident left a sheen over 90 percent of the area, she said.

However, the spill is much smaller than the ones that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the Coast Guard estimated that more than 7 million gallons of oil were dumped into the Mississippi and nearby waterways.

While the accident is still under investigation, you can’t help but wonder if rough seas in the wake of Hurricane Dolly are partly to blame. But then again, Floridians been assured that oil operations always stand up to any weather challenge.