How environmentally safe is it to drill offshore nowadays?

Question

or in other places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Would it be truly worth it in the end.

Answer 1

Considering there were no eco disasters after Katrina I would say it is very safe. It is far safer than not clearing out the underbrush in all the forrests in Cali that go up like match sticks every year but no one seems concerned with that.

Answer 2

It will depend on if U are satisfied with shrinking your world till U can walk across it.

Answer 3

It's very safe.  Corporations are very sensitive to environmental concerns.  No one wants to be sued.

Modern technology can quickly detect any leak and take action as needed.

We should be drilling now.

Answer 4

Scientifically or practically?   It could be safe, but that would cost more money than the companies would want to spend, so they would take short cuts and hope nothing goes wrong.

Answer 5

It's safe for the financial environment of the greed-blinded,hoary ghosts around DC.

Answer 6

Safety is not the issue because it is done by private entities.  Meaning, if they do something wrong, you can bet an enviromental group would sue them faster than Al Gore can burn up 100KW in his huge home...

Also, do you think that really matters at this point?  With the public so upset on high fuel costs, I think many would turn over their own grandmother if they thought they could extract some crude oil out of her....  A little extreme I will admit, but I think you get my point...  

In short... Conserversation, unfortunately does not look like it will last long with the us consumer..

Answer 7

The last time there was a oil spill was 1969

Answer 8

When is the last time you heard of an oil spill?

Technology has greatly improved and of the billions of acres in ANWR the drilling will only use 5% of the land, with very few enviromental loses.

The risk is well worth the reward.

Answer 9

Well the truth is , almost everything  we do in our environment isn't environmentally safe when you really think about it.But to answer your question, i worked on the drilling rigs for a few years and there is alot of toxic chemicals used in the drilling fluids that they use to bring the the sediment they drill through to the surface.  This drilling fluid is contained in a casing( large 12" pipe) , that extends  roughly 900 ft below the sea bed , and then continuing to the  drilling platform floor . Is this fluid 100% contained in this casing?. No it is not , there will always be some fluid loss  that will end up into the sea . There is always accidents also, which occur that can have huge impacts on the environment , ocean life , etc. Would it be worth it ? ,  if you asked an oil  company that quetion you know what their answer would be, but it surely won't help wildlife in the artic.

Answer 10

I'm not exactly sure how safe it is, but there are always accidents.  Just last year there was an oil spill in the San Francisco Bay Area.  It would not be truly worth it in the end.  By the time  refineries are built and oil is dispersed throughout the US, gas prices will barely be touched.  The fact is that we're running out of oil and taking every last built of oil out the planet is not going to help anything.  We need to push for alternative fuels sources, rather than drilling for more oil.

Edit: To the person who said the last oil spill was 1969-that is completely wrong.  The Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the biggest oil spills ever, happened in 1989.  Also, there have been many oil spills since then.  As I said earlier, there was one in San Francisco last year.