Remember Three Mile Island...or the Deepwater Horizon

The accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant spelled the end of nuclear power plant construction in the US for at least 40 years.
The blowout on the Deepwater Horizon and its subsequent demise could trigger a similar reaction to offshore drilling in the US.  At the very least it will mean delays in future drilling operations and the introduction of restrictive new rules for such drilling operations.
This will make American petroleum production more expensive and less competitive with imported petroleum products and as we have seen with Walmart and other American retail operations, it is not where the product comes from, but how much it costs in immediate dollars (as opposed to the long term overall price including government supplied insurance and military protection) which determines where the product comes from.
So, expect to see even a greater portion of American petroleum consumption to be supplied by importation with all the potential problems that that entails.