To Drill or Not to Drill

The great debate over our energy need has become the number one issue facing the American Public today. Now it is up to Congress to decide whether or not we can drill for oil off of our own coast lines. Now I am in no way an expert in economics but I do have an opinion on how drilling for oil off the United States Shores and other places in our country will affect the price of gasoline at the pump. The price of oil continues to climb with no end in site mainly, in my opinion, due to speculation on the fact that we have no concrete plan to terminate our dependency on foreign oil. By formatting a plan to stop our dependency on foreign oil, the price of oil will drop, regardless of the fact it will take up to ten years to see any oil from our new drilling sites.

So why can’t we drill in more locations off our coast acquiring an extra 80 billion plus barrels of oil? The main arguments have been maintaining a pristine marine environment and needing to develop alternative, reusable energy sources. Now I am a firm believer in developing new sources of energy but, this will have no affect on the price of gas now. We are at least ten years away from everyone being able to afford hybrids and hydrogen cell vehicles so in my mind that argument does not work. As for keeping a pristine marine environment, offshore oil rigs provide artificial reefs which allow marine life to flourish. In most cases, within six months after an offshore rig has been placed, a thriving ecosystem develops with all forms of marine life. Before rigs were placed in the western Gulf of Mexico, the marine life was rather scarce, now some of the world’s best fishing and diving is near and around these rigs. What about the amount of oil which leaks in the Seas while drilling? Well, this amount fails in comparison to the amount of oil which naturally seeps into the oceans. 180 million gallons of oil naturally leak into the world’s oceans, making up near 62% of the total amount of oil in the Seas. The percentage of oil from oil platform leaks, less than 1%. Now I by no means believe we can drill our way out of our energy crisis but, I do believe we can lower the cost of our energy through drilling while we develop new and reusable forms of energy.

So in my mind, it is a no brainer………………..Drill now!!!!!!!