Finally, the time has arrived for our politicians to consider drilling something other than corporate CEO's. With oil's inexorable ascent, a reexamination of the myths, merits, and minuses of offshore drilling is long overdue.
When people think of offshore drilling platforms, an image tends to form of gargantuan eyesores, scarring earth and marring skyline. This stereotype is actually quite far from the truth. Due to the curvature of the Earth, the distance (in terms of visibility) to the horizon is limited by the relative height of the eye above sea level. Even from the 10th story of a beachfront condominium, one can only see roughly 11 nautical miles (20km) offshore*, neglecting atmospheric refraction, which distorts visibility, even on a clear day.
Though beachgoers have nothing to fear, what of our delicate oceanic ecosystem? You may be surprised to learn that oil rigs, rather than directly impinging upon the surrounding marine habitat, spawn lush profusions of coral in the shallow waters where sunlight penetrates, creating environments in which tens of thousands of fish can thrive. These miniature ecosystems delight divers, who frequently admire the verdant marine life that clings to the substructure of oil rigs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJ78k6GgNY). This interest could, in fact, promote tourism, rather than deter it.
Radical environmentalists (bless their well-intentioned souls) have portrayed oil rigs as ready-made cataclysms, but a moment away from oozing black catastrophe into our oceans and onto our beaches. While this may have been closer to the truth many decades ago, it is far from an accurate characterization today. In an effort to protect, not only the environment, but the profitable oil they extract from it, corporations have dramatically improved the safety of drilling practices. To prevent spills, today's oil rigs employ blowout prevention systems (BOP's). These systems, via a series of hydraulically operated closure devices, are capable of sealing off oil wells and routing harmful fluids into specialized containment equipment, preventing chemicals from hemorrhaging into the ocean.
As well, the water that invariably comes into contact with the oil at the point of drilling is filtered before being returned to the environment. In conjunction with chemical treatments, a network of filtration systems is employed to separate and sanitize the water in accordance with strict environmental regulations. Water sanitized in this way is referred to as "produced formation water" (PFW), and is restored to the ocean almost completely free of harmful chemicals.
Ironically, the major factor compelling our legislators to dust off our archaic moratorium is likely to be amongst the least affected. Even if our corporations begin construction tomorrow, it will be roughly a decade before we start seeing production. Even then, a substantial reduction in price is unlikely, although the extra capacity will work to mitigate oil's climb (as it would have today, had expansion of our drilling capacity not been shot down in decades past). Drilling does, however, carry with it a number of additional benefits.
According to the Department of the Interior, the U.S. continental shelf contains 115 billion barrels of oil and 633 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (enough to meet current U.S. demand for oil and natural gas for 15 years and 27 years, respectively). While tapping these reserves will be a gradual process, access to them will add a measure of stability to the price of oil. Moreover, due to the lack of downward pressure on price, drilling will not deter us from seeking the alternatives we so desperately need to achieve energy independence, but rather, will provide us with a cushion to ease us through the coming period of transition.
While efforts to reduce our consumption and diversify our energy portfolio may be picking up, we are a long way from kicking our oil addiction. Indeed, even if U.S. demand levels out (or declines), global demand will continue to rise at an increasingly rapid pace, putting further strain on a relatively stagnant oil supply. For all we complain of high gas prices, we do so as we grudgingly fill up our tanks. How many people do you know who drove the nearly 700 miles to Miami and back to celebrate over the 4th of July weekend? It is not infeasible that the day may come again when gasoline is rationed. Drilling now will go a long way toward staving that day off, or averting that catastrophe altogether.
The truth, however, is not all perversity and paradox. Oil rigs may well harm the environment. Routine pollutants from normal operations, as well as produced formation water, have been found to leach chemicals into the surrounding marine environment. According to the EPA, these chemicals include: "arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, barite, chrome lignosulfate, petroleum hydrocarbons, vanadium, copper, aluminum, chromium, zinc, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, radionuclides, and other heavy metals." These chemicals can persist for a number of years, though their exact effect on marine life, while potentially detrimental, is speculative in magnitude.
Ultimately, our aversion to offshore drilling may not spare us from its adverse effects. A joint effort between China and Cuba is presently underway to establish drilling operations as little as 50 miles off of the Florida coast. With 4.6 billion barrels of crude oil (and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas) imminently at stake, our corporations can do naught but sit idly by while foreign, state-owned oil companies drill within spitting distance of our shores. This oil will be extracted, and one would much rather our government regulate that extraction with our corporations generating the revenues.
For so long as we require oil, the needs of our consumers and our economy must be balanced against the ramifications of extracting more of it from the Earth. With billions of barrels at stake, inaction could shoulder us with much of the costs of offshore drilling while reaping none of its many benefits.
*D = SQRT(2 x h x r) where h is the height above sea level and r is the radius of the Earth (units in km).
