To Drill or Not to Drill Oil

To Drill or Not to Drill

America’s dependency on foreign oil is a topic of much debate. As time goes on and the demand continues to increase, America needs to be proactive and look at ways to become more self-sufficient. According to the Energy Information Administration website 2008, America consumes about 19 million barrels a day of world oil, however, only the produces about 8.5 million barrels. This leaves a gap, so the US turns to foreign oil. To decrease our dependency on foreign oil, President Obama wants to open up drilling on the coastlines including Alaska, the Eastern coast and parts of the gulf to look at more ways to increase oil production in the US. I understand his decision to go on with drilling, but when I took a closer look at the risks, I am not convinced that the benefit outweigh the risks. The Huffington Post reported (April, 2010), that the BP spill was triggered by an explosion that killed eleven men and lost around 200 million gallons of oil. This disaster affected so many, from the loss of human life to harming wildlife, and affecting the fishing industry. It also affected the shores and the full affects have yet to be seen. So for right now until they can guarantee they can create a safe way for the drilling, I will side with Not to Drill. How many lives have to be lost to prevent this from happening again?

There is no easy answer. As I look more closely at this situation, it is difficult for me to see the point of view of those in favor of drilling. The types of thinking that are preventing this are resistance to change and a form of stereotyping. Stereotyping in the sense of thinking that if oil drilling caused the latest disaster, the chances it will happen again are high and that the same thing will continue to happen with more wells in place. Change is difficult. Being used to a certain way of doing things that seems to have been the best answer in the past, now keeps me from seeing...