Can someone explain the offshore drilling issue to me?

[democrattotheend]

I don't mean to sound ignorant here but what exactly does "offshore drilling" mean, and why is it bad? Is it just bad for gas prices to go down because of global warming, or is there a particular reason why offshore drilling is bad? I know I am supposed to be against it but I realized I don't exactly know what it is...sorry if that sounds lame.

[MrsT]

1. Someone else can give you the cons, the pros are

it will lower gas prices by about 20 cents in about 20 years from now.
Maybe.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Did your parents ever promise you a trip to Disneyland?

And take you to the dentist instead?

It's kind of like that.

[democrattotheend]

3. Huh?

Sorry I have no idea what that is supposed to mean.

[panader0]

4. The Chinese are lurking just outside our national waters

and angling their wicked shafts right under us to suck out oil. I think Mugabe is involved too.

[Muttocracy]

5. I think Biden's recent statement explains why it's not going to help any time soon

http://biden.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=e20b32d9-d252-4e61-ba4a-bad79f2a76fe

Looking up some info on env. impacts, will repost if I find it (risk of oil spills among other things)

[Muttocracy]

8. here's a few in a hurry about the 1969 Santa Barbara spill, and from Sierra Club

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91808345

http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~kclarke/Papers/SBOilSpill1969.pdf

Don't know how much technology has changed since then?


http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/coasts/factsheets/2006-07_hurricanepollution.pdf

[sandnsea]

6. Oil Spills

Google that and either Texas or Louisiana. That ought to explain it.

[Enrique]

7. it's not the gas prices

because the impact on gas prices would be negligible. It's the environmental costs.

[tkmorris]

9. Oh boy

"I know I am supposed to be against it but I realized I don't exactly know what it is...sorry if that sounds lame."

I think that's the issue, right there. Friend, never let ANYONE tell you what you are supposed to think. YOU examine the facts, every time, and decide what you think.

The arguments against off-shore drilling focus on it's environmental damage versus the amount of oil it can add to the market. The environmental damage is a given, the only argument is over how damaging off-shore drilling actually is. Even done perfectly, such drilling leaches pollutants into the water around the rigs, and of course there is always the possibility of an accidental spill. Many would argue that those risks are not acceptable given the limited amount of oil which can be produced off-shore. Of course, others would say we need all the oil we can get, risks be damned.

You need to decide for yourself what you think about it.

[pinto]

10. There is already offshore drilling in place. Pressure is to expand.

Open new leases (oil companies "lease" rights off shore from the governments - State and Federal) or allow slant drilling from existing drilling operations.

Offshore drilling is done from platforms off the coast, oil is loaded on to tankers or piped onshore.

Galveston:




Alaska:



Santa Brabara:




The danger is primarily environmental. Here in CA the Santa Barbara spill set a standard of opposition that will likely hold for generations.

1969 Oil Spill
source: http://www.silcom.com/~sbwcn/spill.shtml (current as of 5/03)
On the afternoon of January 29, 1969, an environmental nightmare began in Santa Barbara, California. A Union Oil Co. platform stationed six miles off the coast of Summerland suffered a blowout. Oil workers had drilled a well down 3500 feet below the ocean floor. Riggers began to retrieve the pipe in order to replace a drill bit when the "mud" used to maintain pressure became dangerously low. A natural gas blowout occurred. An initial attempt to cap the hole was successful but led to a tremendous buildup of pressure. The expanding mass created five breaks in an east-west fault on the ocean floor, releasing oil and gas from deep beneath the earth.

For eleven days, oil workers struggled to cap the rupture. During that time, 200,000 gallons of crude oil bubbled to the surface and was spread into a 800 square mile slick by winds and swells. Incoming tides brought the thick tar to beaches from Rincon Point to Goleta, marring 35 miles of coastline. Beaches with off-shore kelp forests were spared the worst as kelp fronds kept most of the tar from coming ashore. The slick also moved south, tarring Anacapa Island's Frenchy's Cove and beaches on Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands.

Now that the oil market has hit an historical high, the pressure from the companies is intense for more leases. They're advocating while the pain at the pump is nationwide. And doing so effectively.

Hope this answers a bit of your query. pinto

[nc4bo]

11. What the MSM forgot to mention..........

Katrina oil spills.

http://www.katrinadestruction.com/images/v/damaged+energy+facilities/

The photos are devastating yet I have yet to see even ONE of them shown on the MSM.

and more...:

http://blog.skytruth.org/2007/12/hurricane-katrina-gulf-of-mexico-oil.html

[SoCalDem]

12. Beach-goers do not like oily beaches

:(