Question to those who oppose oil drilling. ?

Question

If Green Energy is still unproven and speculative, why shouldn't we

be drilling for a supply of proven fuel while we make the huge technological and economical transition to alternative energy.

To not do so would severely harm our economy. I don't understand

what people who oppose drilling are thinking. Please share your thoughts, particularly those who have strong convictions against drilling. Thanks.

Answer 1

well first of all it would be because of pollution. Like if we drill in the anrw that will lead to catastrophic events and the food chains around the world would be disrupted. Also if we drilled the oil we would only prolong the innevitable and that is that oil will eventually run out. So I think that its better for today's scientist to be searching for answers sooner than later because if we could improve our green technology today we would not have to deal with the effects of global warming caused by the fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.

Answer 2

I've worked as a professional geologist for oil, environmental, nuclear and wind and none of them is completely green and without environmental impact.  New drilling makes sense from the standpoint that our entire economy is dependent on oil based products and increased supplies would not only lower gasoline prices, but prices of many other things too.  Anything plastic is petroleum based and only about 1/2 of every barrel of oil goes to fuels and lubricants.  The other 1/2 is feedstock for the chemical/plastics industries.  FWIW, Canada has more oil reserves in the form of oil sands than the Saudis and Kuwaitis have in combined oil reserves. There are similar amounts of oil in the states of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, although they're extremely difficult to get at, even before you consider the environmental effects of mining them.  One other point, any drilling offshore will generate revenue for the government that may delay tax increases.  Oil companies pay anywhere from 15-25% off the top directly to the federal government for any oil produced on federal lands. This is a royalty payment in addition to any taxes owed on the produced oil.

Wind power kills more wildlife than petroleum operations and the environmental effects of wind power are unknown; not because there aren't any, but because no one has ever looked at them.  Every tower out there has a 40' diameter 40' deep section of soil/bedrock removed and replaced with concrete to form the base of the tower.  We don'tknow what this will do to the groundwater which percolates down past this contamination  Every tower creates turbulence in the wind, which we already know from meteorological studies of buildings/cities causes climatic effects.  The towers create noise pollution because the tips of the turbines are moving at close to supersonic speeds.  We don't know what long term exposure to this noise will do to livestock or wildlife.  Every tower is a huge lightning rod, we don't know what effect this will have on either the atmosphere or the subsurface. Solar and nuke have other environmental effects.  Biofuels right now are energy inefficient. To replace 100 barrels of oil with ethanol, you have to burn 127 barrels of oil.  Hardly a green process.  Ethanol has a much lower energy density than some other potential fuels and E85 vehicles actually emit more pollution because of reduced energy efficiency.

Answer 3

My boyfriend works in the oil drilling business, and people, drilling oil does not cause pollution and it doesn't cause that much damage to a certain area. Sometimes they are limited because just about every national park or place with absurd amounts of oil are under law protection, thinking that drilling oil will completely decimate the area. Truth is that it won't. America is not technologically advanced enough nor do we have the resources to figure out "pro-green" technology. Stop feeding off what the liberal media tells you.

Answer 4

Green Energy encompasses so many different types that it is pointless to discuss it as though they were one - some are more efficient some are less.

Drilling is not going to impact gas prices, it will have negative environmental consequences that will be extremely costly to clean up, and depending on where one wants to drill it will devastate different animal habitats.

In some places it is also illegal, even though some politicians decide to ignore the Declaration of Human Rights (which includes provisions relating to land use and occupancy, with rights to subsistence).

All of these negative actions so that some oil companies can make a few extra billion dollars of profit that will not benefit the average American? Please give me a break.

I'm not suggesting abandoning fossil fuel use right now, but we need to do more, but the people in power are simply too rich to give it all up.

Answer 5

if we all thought like you, the world would still be running on steam, which might not be to bad, knowing what we know now.

Answer 6

One reason is that we won't produce any alternative fuel so long as fossil fuel is available.

Another reason is that oil will be needed for lubrication in any technology, we have to keep undrilled/unpumped oil for something besides burning.

Drilling is becoming more and more difficult and expensive as we pass peak oil.