In Defense of Offshore Drilling

No one in our country is ignorant of the horrendous disaster that was the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The incalculable damage to the environment of the Gulf Coast will be immortalized in history as a nightmare we hope will never be relived. This oil spill, once referred to by Fox News as “Obama’s Katrina,” could become known as the disaster of the decade, or, at the very least, of the Obama administration. Nevertheless, an all-out ban on offshore drilling would do much more harm than good to the American people.

Indeed, an unequivocal ban is not congruous with the spirit of America. Almost everything we have accomplished in this country was gained only after grueling trial and error. When a system is inefficient it is better to regulate or alter it as necessary, rather than to abolish it outright. When a plane crashes do we abandon the idea of flying? No, we critique our airports and the crafts in which we fly so that they are better able to handle the demands of travel. When the stock market crashed in 1929 and plunged us into the Great Depression, we ultimately survived and emerged more capable economists and business people. In fact, the pursuit of success, even in the face of overwhelming odds and financial drawbacks, helped propel us into both outer space and cyber space. This experience has better cautioned and alerted us to an industry that will, like most others, only improve with time and practice.

In the game of diplomatic hardball, there are various tools that individual states can utilize in order to exert their influence over another country. According to Washington University’s Dr. Andrew Sobel, these include: tools of force, such as sanctions or military occupation, and tools of incentive, such as preferred trading status. Many Middle Eastern countries, particularly those belonging to OPEC, exert such incentives very effectively, As reported by the Institute for Energy Research, though the United States contains merely 5% percent of the world’s population, we consume 26% of its crude oil production. This is a feat not easily achieved. Each year, according to the National Resources Defense Council, the demand for oil grows as more third world countries become industrialized, and consequently want to snag a slice of the “oil pie” for themselves. As a result, the prices that we pay for oil continue to rise, both in terms of hard money and diplomatic leverage. Our ability to act unilaterally is compromised considerably when other countries hold a monopoly over the oil that we need. By continuing to drill offshore, we will achieve a greater degree of independence by producing for ourselves what we have had to fight and bargain for in the past. We thus give ourselves a second option, instead of relying almost entirely on oil imports. One day we will be free from oil—but that is not today. Today we need oil badly, and to ignore our own reserves is nothing short of wastefulness.

It would also be in our better economic interest to continue our efforts to harvest oil offshore. No, adding our oil to the global market will not lower gas prices. No, we will not reap a profit from crude oil exports by selling what we drill to foreign countries. But we would certainly benefit from the hundreds of thousands of jobs that would then remain intact. As reported by the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association (LMOGA), as many as 500,000 people rely on the Gulf oil-rigs for work. Moreover, as the LMOGA further reports, the loss of these jobs would result in a $165 to $330 million of salary lost on idle rigs. Employment means much more than just the fact that people have money with which to support themselves and their families. It also means that more people are paying taxes and less people are living off of welfare benefits, which doubly increases government revenue. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business and finance federation, has repeatedly expressed their opposition to a moratorium, citing potential economic repercussions and the possibility of driving away future business with oil industry.

“The bottom line,” as President Obama stated, “is this: given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth, produce jobs and keep our businesses competitive, we’re going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy.” Let us not keep America tied helplessly to overseas shackles. We should help both ourselves and our progeny become more energy independent by drilling offshore and utilizing the resources that our own land has been endowed with.