Oil Rig Explosion Causes Tragedy

An explosion 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana in an oil rig exploded Tuesday night. It was unclear as to what caused the explosion but it happened extremely quickly. One of the officers said that they were unclear as to how much oil spilled into the ocean. On Thursday morning the rig collapsed into the Gulf of Mexico. It was estimated on Wednesday that about 13,000 gallons of crude oil was pouring out per hour. Although most of the damage to the environment was considered minimal, most of it was burned. The oil rig was called the Deepwater Horizon, used to open wells in the ocean floor. The rig consists of about 126 plus workers, 11 are missing and the coast guard has been searching but it is believed that didn’t survive the explosion. The Explosion caused 17 workers to be injured and 3 of them were critical. Nobody could do anything to help the environment because of the fire. It has been announced that the Obama Administration wants to open a vast amount of oil rigs off the coast along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. The proposal will please oil production companies but anger some residents and many environmental organizations. The plan by Obama will cover about 167 million acres of ocean. The reason Obama wants to drill in the ocean is to reduce amounts of imported oil. With Obama increasing all of this offshore drilling, many more accidents will occur. Our oceans will continue to receive damage if oil accidents keep occurring. The accident that happened a couple of days ago is a perfect example as to why we should not be drilling. This explosion is a warning to the government that if we keep drilling it will not only hurt our environment, but our country’s people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR2010033100024.html

Where is Offshore Drilling at Today?

Offshore drilling is currently a hot topic of today’s politics. It heated up in 2008 when President Bush lifted the ban on offshore drilling. There was a two decade long ban on offshore drilling before the ban was lifted. Currently, Obama is increasing the amount of offshore drilling. He plans to push offshore oil drilling along the East Coast from Delaware to Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. This seems to be one of the only ways to get republicans and conservative democrats on board in an effort to find natural fuel. These conservatives feel that the United States cannot yet decrease the amount of oil production in the U.S. Increasing offshore drilling is a major step backwards in an attempt to decrease our country’s dependence on oil. After his decision Obama stated, “The bottom line is this: given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel, even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy.” Obama increasing offshore drilling is just contradicting his fight to find renewable energy. There is enough oil in the United States and countries we trade with. As far as creating jobs go, there should be more of an importance on finding renewable energy. Increasing the work force on this topic will in itself create more jobs. Bottom line Obama needs to decrease traditional sources of fuel, not create an increase. Hopefully the future of our country’s fuel will not continue to come from the Middle East or from offshore drilling. There needs to be a new source of energy. More money and more research need to be put into finding an alternative fuel. Offshore drilling is just a quick fix.

Offshore Drilling is bad

Introductioin to Offshore Drilling

Lately is seems like offshore drilling has been a topic in hot debate. Gas prices have affected everyone and many are looking for a new and cheaper way to get gas. With the recession everyone is looking for ways to cut down expenses. Many have turned to offshore drilling, which is, the drilling for oil in the ocean. Although it is an alternate way to get oil, it is not the moraly accepted way to find oil. Drilling in the ocean will affect many different species in the ocean making all enviormental friendly people completly against offshore drilling. It is not a quick fix to lower gas prices. The Boston Globe says "It would take at least a decade for oil companies to obtain permits, procure equipment, and do the exploration nesessary to get the oil out of the ground."http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/20/new_offshore_drilling_not_a_quick_fix_analysts_say/

This whole process seems like a big, costly production at time where money is tight. Especially because this comes at such a highly enviormental cost and the gain isn't even guranteed to be that substantial. Drilling in a place as pure and untouched as the coast and wilderness of Alaska should be a last resort, not a politcal scheme to gain 'points' or to gain cheaper oil. Whatever the decision may be, action may not even take place for years due to environmentalists blocking progress and many other legal battles. Focuses should continue to be on alternative fuel sources.