A crisis is still a terrible thing to waste, and the Deepwater Horizon spill is one heck of a crisis. Now MoveOn.org is calling for President Obama to reinstate the moratorium on off-shore drilling, which he announced on March 31 that he'd be lifting.

Three Democratic senators, meanwhile, are pushing for new legislation to make oil companies cover more of the fallout from their disasters. Current law sets a limit of $75 million for economic damages like lost revenue from fishing and tourism. Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) are copping a phrase from Republican word doctor Frank Luntz with their "Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act." The press release quotes Menendez as saying:

"The bottom line is that oil spills can leave massive holes in the economy. If you spill it, you should have to fill it. We're glad that the costs for the oil clean up will be covered, but that's little consolation to the small businesses, fisheries and local governments that will be left to clean up the economic mess that somebody else caused. We can't let the burden fall on the taxpayers – we should ensure that those who cause the damage are fully responsible. There is no such thing as a 'Too Big to Spill' oil well, which is why we need this economic protection in place. With some predicting that this spill could potentially make its way up the eastern seaboard, and with future plans for drilling along the East Coast, I look at this bill as a safety net for our small businesses owners and fisheries on the Jersey Shore as well."

The senators list a few oil company profit numbers, just to fill in the picture. BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon from Transocean, pulled in $5.6 billion in the first quarter of 2010, up from $2.4 billion during last year's recession.