The devastation resulting from BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe has clearly illustrated the overpowering sway of oil on the politics of Louisiana and other Gulf states, with lawmakers of both parties in these areas apparently opining that the spill is no reason to stop the ongoing drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

With the oil business largely favoring delegations from the main Gulf states in terms of campaign contributions, lawmakers have thus far maintained their fervent backing of offshore drilling, giving the justification that it is one of the core industries of the region.

As per the statistics compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics and analyzed by The Washington Post, lawmakers from Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi received an average of $100,000 from oil and gas companies as well as their employees in the last three years.

Further, going by industry estimates, in Louisiana alone, the oil sector offers employment to over 300,000 people; and the state handles nearly 25 percent of the oil and natural gas consumed in the US.

Noting that oil influence in Gulf states is apparently tempering the lawmakers’ response to the spill, Michael Brune, the Sierra Club executive director, said that several elected officials in the Gulf states “have very close, cozy ties with the oil and gas industry. That habit is hard to break even when disaster is staring them in the face.”