What are the pros and cons of off shore drilling?

Question

Why should or shouldn't we drill for oil off the shores of our own country?

Answer 1

Pros:  Increase oil supply and reduce prices EVENTUALLY.

"It's an economic crisis for the average American, who are paying triple what they paid for gasoline only a couple of years ago," Black tells NPR's Robert Siegel."

Cons:

It will take years to develop and have any effect on gas prices (about 10 yrs).

"But just a month ago, when McCain was asked about offshore drilling during a campaign stop in Wisconsin, the presumptive Republican nominee noted that such resources would take YEARS to develop, and that the U.S. should instead focus on alternative energy sources. Black says McCain's new stance represents weeks of talks with policy advisers on how to bring energy security and energy independence to the U.S."

It has serious effects on the ocean ecosystem, from drilling fluids, debris, and spills.

"In the drilling process, the drilling fluid is used to lubricate the drill bit as it drills through the layer of hard rock of the outer continental shelf. A toxic soup is formed when the fluid blends with rock, mud, and naturally occurring radioactive materials, which can spread at the minimum of a thousand meters from the rigs.

These drilling muds and cuttings as well as the produced waters contain, according to the EPA: arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, barite, chrome lignosulfate, petroleum hydrocarbons, vanadium, copper, aluminum, chromium, zinc, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, radionuclides, and other heavy metals. All of these chemicals pose a threat to the area surrounding the rigs for as many as forty years. Such threats are affecting the quality of the marine water, harming the organisms that stay on the bottom of the ocean, and, ultimately, having negative impacts throughout the region, which includes changes in the abundance richness and diversity of the marine life from both the physical and toxic effects.

Oil and grease, ethylbenzene, napthalene, toluene, and zinc are included in the category of workover fluids, with restrictions only having an effect on the dumping of the oil and grease.

Draining of oil, grease, drilling fluids, lubricants, ethylene, fuels, surfacants, biocides, detergents, corrosion inhibitors, bleach, cleaning solvents, coagulants, as well as other chemicals off of the rig deck has a disastrous affect on the surrounding marine environment.

For every well that is drilled, about 8,000 square feet can be covered by as much as a meter thick of drilling waste, which can remain in the environment for at least two years. If the mud were to get scattered, by a hurricane for example, the waste could ultimately last for as long as forty years. Around an exploratory well that belonged to Chevron, inspectors discovered that shovels, bags, pipes, tubing, hose, and many other forms of debris covered more than three acres.

The effects of offshore drilling are not simply felt by the surrounding environment, but also by the marine life. These effects have damaging consequences for our fisheries, food chain, balance of the ecosystem, health, and the enjoyment that we find in the diversity of nature. One compelling fact is that the federal government allows the "taking" (killing) of marine life during the drilling for oil and gas, which in return, has negative effects on various marine mammals, including manatees and dolphins. Furthermore, the extent that contaminants can amplify and bioaccumulate is unknown, and the lack of knowledge in this area has an ensuing impact on many of the marine mammals."

Answer 2

pros- maybe more oil on the market and eventually drive cost down some,

         get us of dependency of our enemies,

cons- I would say many worry of possible oil spills,environmental issues

all in all we need to get ourselves off oil because we need to move on to better things and we have had it but there are too many people making money off oil so it is suppressed or bought off.  

Answer 3

I'm not against it, but it doesn't really solve anything.

It'll take 8 or 9 years to get up and running - so it's not a short term solution.

With only a couple of exceptions, the amount is fairly limited - so it's not a long term solution.

(Drilling in wildlife refuges and protected areas, that's a bad idea)