Apart from the direct expenses in the clean up and compensation for those affected, the biggest costs could be greater federal and regulatory scrutiny at a time when the industry is collectively trying to project the image that oil and gas exploration is environmentally safe.
Ask anyone about BP and Electricite de France SA and the image of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown come to mind.
Whether it is a pedigreed oil painting of the family (in the best of cases, a Sargent) or a plucky image of oneself (perhaps a Warhol, but probably not a Freud), people love to keep representations of their relatives near at hand.