Offshore Oil Drilling

There are many environmental hazards that come along with offshore oil drilling, including pollution and the risk of oil spills. Expanding offshore drilling will increase carbon dioxide emissions, increasing temperatures globally. This has been a continuing issue for decades that does not need to be increased any more than it already has. Since petroleum is the main cause of air pollution in the world today, pollution is an ever increasing problem of this industry. The only way to truly address this pollution problem is to stop increasing expansion of offshore drilling.

Environmentalists are one the biggest critics against the notion of increasing domestic oil drilling. By increasing the amount of drilling we do in the United States, we increase the risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Disasters are hardly the only source of economic damage either, to find oil reserves under the ocean, seismic waves are generated into the ground. These waves bounce off the ground back up to the ship, where computers and scientist can use the results to make educated guesses on whether or not oil is located under the surface. These seismic waves can wreak havoc with marine animals like whales; where in one case over 100 whales beached themselves to get away from the painful experience (Nixon). Using seismic waves does not even guarantee that oil might be located underneath the surface, the only way to tell is to actually drill into the potential finds causing even more destruction for what might be for no gain. Once oil is found and drilling has begun, the amount of damage done to the environment can become unimaginable. The recent example is that of the Deepwater

Offshore drilling has become an essential part of today’s oil production and demand for energy. With the growth of population comes the increasing demand for oil. The oil industry today, is one of the most used providers of energy. Today in the 20th century the majority of the population in America has a car and cars needs gas to run. The oil reserves in the earth that are easily accessible via land are starting to run dry and are becoming harder to find. This is why we have begun to see more and more offshore oil drills. Although there are benefits of offshore drilling such as profit, lower gas prices, and becoming less dependent on foreign oil. There are also many drawbacks in which if something were to go wrong, the mistake would be catastrophic impacting the environment, the nature, and have trickling effects all around the world.

Offshore drilling is a topic of extreme debate and argument and one of the most debated parts of that is whether or not it benefits the economy in the U.S. One of the first things to note is that stopping offshore drilling could potentially damage the U.S. economy, and therefore how much energy we can overall use. According to Mason, Joseph R., author of, "The Oil Industry Supports Many Louisiana and Gulf Region Economies", we can see the statement, "the moratorium would produce broad economic losses within the Gulf and throughout the nation as a whole". We can gather, from this, that ceasing offshore drilling/offshore oil production, could potentially harm the U.S. economy, and as I said before the economy being damaged overall decides

Offshore oil drilling is a big contribution to obtaining oil for the U.S., but it is also a big controversy to continue offshore drilling or to stop the drilling. most of the world’s energy comes from the use of oil, even though there are other resources to use oil is the most commonly used, But there is a shortage in oil especially in the U.S. so they suggest drilling for oil in the ocean to reach unexplored oil wells. There are benefits in offshore oil drilling such as jobs, domestic fuel, and environmental benefits. Those that argue the U.S. should expand the offshore oil drilling believe that the benefits drilling brings will help the U.S. out of its foreign oil dependency. Although the side effects are have big impacts just like the benefits. The side effects include environmental risks, oil dependency, and whether or not there is enough oil. Offshore oil drilling is a subject not many know about, there is a lot of research that still needs to be done and a lot of research that still does not give positive conclusions. All in all I believe Energy Efficiency is the best solution to offshore drilling an example would be using electric cars, using solar, and wind power for electricity, and changing how we obtain energy altogether.

Pipelines and oil-drilling platforms will harm caribou, polar bears, and millions of migrating birds (Come on in.: 38). Whenever some country drills for oil it is more likely than not for that country to have an oil spill. Oil spills are deadly to animals, hard to clean up, and it takes the land thousands of years to recover. The United States has already had one major oil spill off the coast of Alaska in Prince William Sound. If another large oil spill occurred on the water it would have a substantial effect on whales and other marine wildlife (Experts say Alaska Oil Drilling Hurts Wildlife: 43). There are over 130 bird species that find breeding, nesting, or resting places on the coastal plain (Defenders of Wildlife).

Still people make the argument that oil is just too important to stop drilling and that if anything we should drill more. Again author Margaret Haerens talks about how “According to the nation academy of Sciences, current cleanup methods can only remove a small fraction of the oil spilled into the ocean, leaving the remaining oil to continue affecting ocean ecosystems over time” (126). The long term impacts of offshore spills continue to corrupt the oceans and who knows when they will completely be gone. The effects of the oil directly on sea life such as sea birds, fish, shellfish, and other sea life are extremely dangers. “Studies have shown that tiny amounts of oil – as little as one part per billion – can harm pink salmon and cause their eggs to fail” (Haerens Margaret). Imagine swimming in the ocean when a large pool of toxic oils comes floating along right into you when you are trying to enjoy a day at the beach. Not only is offshore drilling have one of the longest lasting ecological impacts on society and living things on and off shore, it effects our economy as well.

One of the most endangered species of the sea were also affected by the oil spills of the gulf, sea turtles. Turtles covered in oil were at risk of breathing the toxins of the oil, potentially damaging their respiratory system. Texas residents report that dead sea turtles continue to wash up. Although it is estimated that about 6,000 sea turtles have been harmed by the oil spill, only 1,146 have been officially collected.

Offshore drilling could lead to an oil spill which shown from the Gulf of Mexico incident. It can ruin the sea’s wildlife. With the wildlife at stake it can be really hard to fix the problem and most companies result in using corexit which makes the issue worst. This makes the oil sink deep in the ocean, and results in even more of the underwater marine life suffer. With us being fishermen it could kill our businesses because we will not have food to provide with fish being killed from a potential oil spill. Plus the oil drill wouldn’t really do anything for the state of South Carolina, and if it isn’t needed I wouldn’t want something that we don’t want it to have bad odds of affecting our business.

Humans are a poisonous sludge, slowly poisoning ourselves and all other inhabitants. There are many ways we do this, offshore oil drilling being one of them. Offshore oil drilling is the process of drilling into the earth and pulling up petroleum, a natural fuel source made of decomposed organisms. While there are many positive effects, there are too many negative ones for oil drilling to continue. Offshore oil drilling is too dangerous to be considered safe for use in the ecosystem. Not only is it too dangerous, oil rigs are made in an environment many would deem too hazardous for settling any type of structure. Oil drilling kills many people each year and pollutes the marine environment, killing the oceans natural inhabitants.

Back in the spring of 2010, the Gulf of Mexico experienced the worst oil spill in U.S history as a result of an explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon Oil rig. On April 10th the hazardous accident had already killed 11 people, deformed and killed countless numbers of marine wildlife, and leaked 3.19 million barrels of oil that spread about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Even though the well was located within the deep sea (the lowest part of the ocean that accounts for most of the water on Earth) the ecosystem suffered heavily from it. For instance, it has been reported that over 335 dolphins died, hundreds of sea turtles washed up on the shore soaked in oil, and hundreds of seabirds drowned or starved from not being able to fly,

The approval of new oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters by the Obama administration in 2010 off the coast of Virginia, the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and various parts of the Atlantic sparked outrage among environmental activists, organizations and local mayors. So much so that the Obama administration decided to shelve Atlantic drilling altogether. Offshore oil drilling has been a controversial issue for nearly decades stemming from concerns about the impact of oil spills on marine life and our overall ecological environment. While, many would argue that the benefits of offshore drilling outweigh the risks, the truth of the matter is that in the long run the degradation caused by oil spills and its exacerbation in the factors leading to global warming make it a potential threat not only to the organisms living under the sea but deplete the earth of essential fossil fuels that may diminish faster than they can be replenished. The oil that is in abundance now, may not be there tomorrow. The argument against offshore oil drilling

Offshore drilling will profit only the oil companies already making a norm profits in record breaking. The US would be still depending on imported oil because the US has only three percent of world’s oil reserves. Nobody would see a difference at the gas pump. The threat is there, this could happened where you have oil spills around the coastlines and beautiful beaches all over again. Global warming is initiated by burning fossil fuel. Hurricanes getting stronger and more destructive every year increased by global warming, therefore this threatens wild life population, including the coastlines and beaches. Offshore drilling gears up to subsidize to even more global warming. Oil exploration threatens whales and dolphins. So more drilling the more pollution is formed, problems with this cannot solved by recreating the problem over and over again by drilling

“The best protection we have against offshore accidents is to end our dependence on oil” (NRDC blog). As drilling for oil on land slowly diminishes, offshore drilling provides some sort of a back up to that. However this creates offshore accidents and other consequences so we must find another major abundant source of energy. Offshore drilling allows the world to rely on oil on an even greater scale. Is there a reason why offshore drilling continues to be a massively growing economy? Offshore drilling allows countries to flourish, contain a safe environment underneath the ocean floor, all while increasing the world’s economy. However Offshore Drilling can put countries in debt, destroy ocean habitats, and devastate certain countries

Oil spills usually occur as temporary accidents, while pollution from trucks happens every day. Therefore, offshore drilling does not contaminate the water as badly as the United States thinks.