10. Offshore oil drilling won't impact gas prices today, and it won't have a significant impact on gas prices in the future.
9. This is nothing more than a money grab by the oil companies - who are already making record-breaking profits.
8. We burn 25% of the world's oil here in the U.S., but we have only 3% of the world's oil reserves. So even if all offshore oil magically came to market today, the vast majority of our oil would continue to be imported, and we wouldn't see price relief at the pump.
7. The current moratorium was put in place decades ago to protect us from the danger of oil spills along our coastlines and beaches.
6. Burning fossil fuels like oil causes global warming, which causes stronger hurricanes, which will threaten the very offshore drilling rigs being proposed, which will contribute to even more global warming.
5. To avoid the worst impacts of global warming, we need to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy within the next 10 years. The billions of dollars that would be spent on offshore oil drilling just postpones the inevitable transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
4. Oil exploration requires massive seismic testing - which threatens whales and dolphins.
3. Oil prices are set on the global oil market, so American oil is no cheaper than Saudi oil. We won't get a discount for oil drilled in the U.S.
2. We can't solve the world's energy problems with the same drilling that created them.
1. Renewable energy is available now, so it's time to walk away from fossil fuels and toward a clean energy future.
Tell Congress to say no to offshore drilling!
(Image courtesy of Greenpeace.)
Another reason offshore drilling is bad is that with increased global warming comes increased hurricane activity, which tend to disable/destroy platforms/refineries near offshore platforms, which in turn leads to fluctuations in availability/price. It would be interesting to produce a graph of gas price fluctuation compared with hurricane activity. And fluctuating gas prices are not something we need more of.
Posted by: nancy | September 12, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Interesting list. I'm debating this for a forensics league and you certainly gave me some excellent ideas for the side thats against deepwater offshore oil drilling.
Posted by: Jake | August 20, 2010 at 10:28 PM
interesting list. I'm debating this for a forensics league and you certainly gave me some excellent ideas for the side thats against deepwater offshore oil drilling.
Posted by: kurye şirketleri | October 23, 2010 at 11:14 AM
make us that graph nancy drew
Posted by: george | April 07, 2011 at 12:28 PM
When anyone wants to make a claim that drilling of any sort is a cause or is of any relation to global warming, I feel the need to petition to congress to put something in place to keep them from reproducing. To say that offshore drilling increases the risk of massive oil spills into other creatures habitats, that is absolutely true. But to say that offshore drilling has caused, contributes, makes, or has anything to do with global warming is just as ridiculous as claiming that people who wear contacts are responsible for the wildfires in America. Just think! They don't use those cumbersome glasses anymore, they would sooner throw them out of the window than have to look at them again! What do you think happens to those glasses that get thrown out the window when sunlight passes through them like a magnifying glass? Bingo there you go. TELL CONGRESS TO STOP MAKING CONTACT LENSES.
Posted by: Bob jones | August 28, 2012 at 12:51 PM