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.