Offshore Drilling: Not Worth It
The Trump Administration has just released plans to open more federal waters to offshore drilling. This news really saddened me because offshore drilling has numerous negatives and only very little benefit. The ocean is already having a very tough time staying healthy against human influence; we don't need to make it worse. This article will summarize offshore oil drilling and highlight the adverse effects it has.
Offshore drilling is the process of extracting petroleum from below the seabed. It can be done inshore, close enough to be seen from the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama), deep offshore waters, and even lakes. As inland reserves are depleted, drilling operations have moved farther offshore into deeper waters, increasing the difficulty and complexity of extraction.
The negative environmental impacts of offshore drilling, really any oil operations, are a hot topic, and with good reason. We all know oil spills cause huge messy problems, the effects of which can be seen for years, but even when everything goes right and there are no spills or leaks, offshore drilling significantly pollutes water on a daily basis. ---This happens from drilling muds and ---produced water, both of which are a routine part of operations.
Drilling muds are a drilling fluid used to cool the drill bit, collect metal and rock cuttings, and lubricate and seal the system. This fluid contains harmful chemicals including mercury and cadmium, plus the toxic metal cuttings. Produced water is the water that comes up with the oil and gas. It contains materials such as arsenic, lead, benzene, and even radioactive pollutants along with the mixed in oil content. Drilling muds and produced water with their toxic compositions are released into the ocean regularly, acidifying the water, affecting health and reproductive success of sea life, and increasing mercury content in fish.
Offshore rigs also produce air pollution. Part of the oil drilling process is getting rid of the natural gas that is found with the oil. This is done by flaring, which is the action of burning off the natural gas. This burning off of the gas directly releases carbon dioxide, a major contributor to climate change, into the atmosphere.
Air and water pollution are just the beginning of offshore oil drilling's negative impacts. I haven't even mentioned the consequential land based equipment and infrastructure needed to support offshore rigs that is prone to leaks and wetland destruction, light pollution from 24/7 operations, loss of tourism revenue, decreased property values, and the seismic location surveys that use high-decibel airguns to map the seafloor while killing fish eggs, disrupting migration patterns, and can cause whales to beach themselves and become stranded [1].
So clearly offshore drilling is a nasty process, but is the oil it produces necessary to keep our fast moving country functioning and independent? Scientific sources, government agencies, and political analysts say no. The U.S. consumes most of the planet's oil, 25% or 7.5 billion barrels annually [2], while only having 2% of the world's known reserves [3]. Estimates done by the U.S. Energy Information Agency of how much additional oil could be recovered from the outer continental shelf is just 18 billion barrels in the lower 48 states, or under 2.5 years worth of oil [4]. So, even with more ocean open to drilling, we would not be able to lose our foreign dependence on oil. But what about gas prices? Gas prices are set on a global scale, so unless the U.S. added a very significant amount of oil to the market, gas prices would not be affected. So with the added ---0.2 million barrels to the global 98.3 million barrels per year, the U.S. would not make a significant impact [4].
So the key to our energy prosperity is not more oil drilling; it's lowering oil consumption by focusing on fuel efficiency and renewable energy sources. For example studies have been done showing that continuously raising the standards on fuel efficiency for cars would drastically lower U.S. oil consumption [5]. Also, solar energy has been booming worldwide creating new jobs while promoting clean, renewable energy [6]. If the U.S. focuses more on promoting solar instead of pushing coal and oil, we could increase U.S. manufacturing jobs, be a leader in researching new energy technologies, and not fall behind in a globally important industry.
The U.S. needs to focus on the future and think about our effect on the planet and what we are leaving behind. Forget dying industries, forget industries that we are learning have very detrimental effects, and progress to a healthier, flourishing, and bright future.
Read more about our need to protect the ocean in here. And, don't forget, you can always voices your policy concerns to your congresspeople!
More information:
-Natural Resources Defense Council:
-Wilderness Society:
-Oceana:
-Energy Information Administration:
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