If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The myth of the recent ideas about lifting the ban on offshore drilling in America is that it would have an effect on the price of gasoline and petrol products within the next five years. It’s not like we can just turn on a switch and suddenly the oil starts pumping out of the ground and right into tankers heading for refineries. It’s going to take time to build the drilling stations, and offshore drilling is time consuming. There is this little thing called an ocean that they must contend with.

Some might argue that it will put downward pressure on petrol product prices because the future holds lower oil prices. Future lower prices would put downward pressure on prices but the promise of higher supply does not mean the supply is any higher. Additionally, demand is only going to continue to rise, which means that we are not going to see lower prices. Unless, like some are saying, the oil shortage is manufactured by the oil companies that are reaping massive profits right now. But that is outside the scope of this article.

The real reason Congress should not lift the ban on offshore drilling is simple: Ixtoc I. 176,400,000 gallons of oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas. It is the second worst oil spill in history and 170 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

Offshore drilling also doesn’t address the need for a solid energy solution for America. While some argue that there is enough oil in our offshore locations to fulfill our energy needs for another 50 years, it does not take into consideration pollution and what will be the energy policy 50 years later.