A few minutes ago, RedState.com managing editor and CNN contributor Erick Erickson tweeted that “Growing evidence points to the U.S. government causing the BP oil spill”:

Erickson is referring to an article published yesterday by the Center for Public Integrity with the headline, “Haphazard Firefighting Might Have Sunk BP Oil Rig.” The article - which was flagged by Matt Drudge earlier this morning - was authored by our old friend John Solomon and Aaron Mehta.

Solomon and Mehta report that the Coast Guard is “investigating whether the chaotic spraying of tons of salt water by private boats contributed to sinking the ill-fated oil rig” and believe that their response “may have broken the service's own rules by failing to ensure a firefighting expert supervised the half-dozen private boats that answered the Deepwater Horizon's distress call to fight the blaze.”

In typical Solomon fashion, the article waits until its 52nd paragraph to point out that experts say the rig would have sunk regardless of the Coast Guard's efforts:

Experts agreed that salt water can affect the balance of an offshore rig, but disagreed whether it mattered in the case of the Deepwater Horizon after such a severe explosion.

Benton Baugh, president of the oil engineering and manufacturing firm Radoil Inc., said it is possible that the seals that protect the rig's buoyancy chambers failed, allowing massive amounts of seawater used on the fire to penetrate them.

“I and others have speculated that the access to the buoyancy chambers was compromised, potentially by heat, and the fire boats simply flooded the buoyancy chambers and caused the rig to sink,” he told the Center .

Paul Bommer, a 25-year veteran of the oil industry and now a senior lecturer at the University of Texas , thinks the rig was doomed by the fire, regardless of how well or poorly the firefighting was coordinated.

“I do not believe anyone thought they could put the fire out with foam or water -- it was too big and too hot,” Bommer said. “Without putting the fire out -- which was impossible -- there was no way to save this vessel .”

Bommer says the fire “simply melted away enough of the structure and support systems” on the rig, causing the buoyancy system to fail . But, he adds, that is only true as long as the rig was connected to the riser and the well.

“If the emergency disconnect had worked or had the riser burned through at the surface [of the rig] and disconnected, the fire would have gone out,” possibly saving the ship.

Would the oil spill have been as catastrophic as it was if the rig did not sink? Baugh says it is “possible,” pointing out that “It is sure that for as long as the vessel was floating the spill was greatly minimized; it is possible that it could still be floating and there would have been only minimal pollution.”

“The riser is near neutrally buoyant with flotation except for the top telescopic joint, so this could have been possible,” he concludes.

But now Solomon has his Drudge link and the right wing has some new catnip to play with.