Offshore Drilling Ban Opens Discussion for Other Domestic Oil Options

25 Jun 2008 Publish your eco thoughts here on EcoSignal.org Send Y!M  Email This

This was a big week for our Presidential candidates and energy policy, specifically domestic oil drilling. With the recent decision by a House Sub-committee to continue the ban on more offshore drilling, spirited discussion regarding domestic oil has sprung up everywhere. This week John McCain extended his support for offshore drilling, stating that he thinks the ban should be lifted however he also made the statement that he opposes any drilling of ANWR. Barack Obama opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and ANWR drilling.

As Americans, we have a lot to think about. The fact is we do have domestic oil that we are not extracting. Geologists report we have billions of barrels in both the Bakkan Shale and ANWR. Why is John McCain in favor of lifting the offshore drilling ban while at the same time opposed to ANWR drilling? Is it politically convenient? Is it a possible attempt to satisfy both sides of a debate? Why is Barack Obama opposed to all new domestic drilling? Despite the fact that offshore drilling is technologically at its best, we have other options in other areas.

There is very strong opposition to opening any new domestic areas for drilling oil. However to what extent are we, as a nation, willing to go? We continue to import oil and there is no indication that this will cease. In the Anchorage Daily News online, Charles Krauthammer, a Washington Post Columnist, states:

“The entire Arctic refuge is one-third the size of the United Kingdom (which includes Scotland and Wales). The drilling site would be one-seventh the size of Manhattan Island. The footprint is tiny. Moreover, forbidding drilling there does not prevent despoliation. It merely exports it. The crude oil we’re not getting from the Arctic we import instead from places like the Niger Delta, where millions live and where the resulting pollution and oil spillages poison the lives of many of the world’s most wretchedly poor.”

Strong environmental policies coupled with technological advances for extraction can give us access to the massive amounts of resources at our fingertips. This does not mean we have to deplete our resources, however, with good stewardship we can use what is ours. Acquiring our own oil is something that should be realistically explored from all fronts instead of continually shut down. Energy Independence will benefit all Americans and it will take the use of our own traditional resources such as oil, in addition to a passionate pursuit of alternative energy sources to accomplish this goal.

Source: Red, Green, and Blue

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