Rachel Maddow Covers Gulf Oil Spill… From 1979

In one of the more interesting cable news reports about the gulf oil spill, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow busted out some footage from the NBC archives.

Maddow broadcast reports from an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, caused when an oil rig exploded. Except that the reports were from 1979, not 2010.

Amazingly, the techniques currently being used to try and cap the leak appear to be exactly the same as the ones used over 30 years ago. The only difference are some subtle (and funny) name changes. What BP called the “top hat” containment effort earlier this month, was called the “sombrero” back in ’79.

The Maddow segment is below.