Ramblings

Should we drill for oil off the coast of the United States?  First, some facts.

The U.S. uses 20.7 million barrels of oil a day, 12.4 million which we import.  That makes 7.6 billion barrels a year, 4.5 billion of which we import.

By the best estimates we have there are 15.75 billion barrels of oil locked up in the offshore area that is so debated right now.

So performing some advanced calculations (15.75 billion/4.5 billion) we see that offshore drilling will offset our dependence on foreign oil for about 3.5 years.  That’s not taking into consideration that it will take decades to actually be able to extract even a portion of that oil.

Given all those facts I am in support of expanding offshore oil drilling, not because it’s the logical thing to do, but because it’s the right thing to do.  For every oil platform we debate about not putting up in the U.S., how many pop up in other countries in equally environmentally sensitive areas?

Is it right to ask other countries to make environmental sacrifices for oil extraction if we ourselves are not willing to make the same sacrifice?  Why should the citizens of other countries pay with their environment, health, and “shoreline beauty” while we are allowed to cling to some vain cry of environmentalism?

I don’t think we Americans will ever come to grips with the true environmental impact of our oil addiction until we see it in front of our faces and feel it between our toes.  We don’t visit the countries where our oily passion has the most impact. Instead of asking, “Should we drill off the shore of the U.S.,” we should be asking, “Will we make our brothers and sisters around the world drill for us?”