"knew" is an illusive word here.

For instance I 'knew' that I could eventually be hit by a car. Ironically even though I 'knew' all of this it didn't stop it from happening.

The reason I 'knew' had nothing to do with having a look at the future, I knew because the odds were that eventually it would (could) happen.

Same thing with this oil spill, same thing with the Flooding of New Orleans, same thing with toxic gas spills and yes eventually a chemical attack on US soil.

All of these things could happen, and eventually they will happen.

Insurance Companies are the Ultimate Doom Sayers in that they actually trace down every potential 'fail' and 'doom' that we can think of (and many more) and then plot the chances of it happening via statistics.

Without this then the insurance game would be in our favor, not theirs and insurance company would last long.

The Feds also have think tanks that spend a lot of time considering 'what if' scenarios.

An oil spill took place in the gulf in 1979. We knew that if it happened once it could happen again.

Chemical plants have had leaks before, if it happened once it will happen again.

Face to face with attacks on American Soil where it appears that no weapon or potential weapon is not up for consideration for use, then thinking about all of the possibilities leads on to have to consider chemicals.

Now if this oil spill took place 6 months after the call for plastic and tape, we could see a clearer connection.