I've argued this position before, but I'm not entirely comfortable with it. While true in general I think it ignores some subtle problems.

One of these problems is that, no matter how careful people are, man-made disasters will always happen. We can greatly reduce the risks inherent in life, perhaps to negligible amounts, but there is simply no way to eliminate them entirely. That does not mean that we should stop doing dangerous things. It simply means that we should try to calculate the risks and the benefits and make an informed choice.

We have made that choice in regards to oil. The advantages to humanity of the cheap energy oil provides - in terms of improved quality of life, longer lifespans, lower child mortality, and so forth - is simply so great that we are willing to take the risks that come with drilling for oil. That is a good thing. If we did not take this risk humanity would be in a much worse position right now.

Another problem is a variety of the Winner's Curse ⚠️ ↗. If we insist on strict liability, the people who invest in this field will not be the best and the brightest (those who recognize the dangers), but merely the brightest among those dim enough to believe they can handle the dangers or desperate enough not to care. In other words, unlimited liability is likely to drive away the very folks most likely to proceed cautiously.

Yet another problem is the question of appropriate regulations. We have heard much about the acoustic switch which might have prevented this blowout, which many other nations require - but we have not heard about what regulations the U.S. already has in place. I cannot speak about this field, but in other fields I have seen the differences between American and foreign regulations - and there is no clear superiority of one or the other. In many respects the American regulations may be superior, but in other respects the foreign regulations may be better. What we can be sure of is that the current disaster will lead to a re-evaluation of the American regulations, and will likely bring them up-to-date for the first time in twenty years.

Will this prevent future disasters?

No. It will not. The new regulations will last until the next disaster, when everything will be re-evaluated again.

However, it will probably reduce the number of occurrences.

In the meantime, if we can switch to other means of supplying energy we will probably all be better off, but there will always be some type of disaster waiting for us.