To Drill or Not to

To Drill or Not to Drill?

HUM/111

12-4-2011

I believe that no person should ever lose their life fighting on foreign soil, for me to be able to drive my car to the grocery store, heat my home or power the lights that I use to read my news paper. Within our borders we have billions of barrels of oil that we are not utilizing; instead we import oil from other countries. Is there technology that we have today that would help us to reduce the amount of oil this country consumes so we do not rely on other country’s resources? A common question in America is ‘to drill or not to drill,’ but before we make such a large decision, since it affects so many people directly, some key components should be taken into consideration such as where does the oil we use come from, would drilling for more of our own oil or using other means of power be more beneficial and the political standpoint.

“Everyone seems to recognize that the U.S. is heavily dependent on oil imports, with roughly 60% coming from beyond our borders.” (Schweizer, 2008, p. 11a). Everyone believes that most of our oil that we import each year comes from the Middle East. This is not true. Schweizer (2008). We only get about 15 % of our oil from the Middle East. This is one of those issues that people have a hard time understanding. We receive nearly 20% of our total oil from Canada, and another 20% from countries south of our border. America is relying too much on other country’s oil. We have many areas that have not been explored in this country that holds billions of barrels of oil.

Would it be beneficial to use other forms of power such as solar, wind, or hydroelectric? Would drilling on our own soil be a better option? These are important questions that the government is now facing. If we were to drill for more of our own oil and rely less on the Middle East, we would essentially be taking oil away as a possible reason to go to war. The only way we will be able to...