Off-Shore Oil Drilling: Having Our Cake and Eating it Too

I’m ambivalent about off-shore oil drilling. I’m anxious to move beyond petroleum as a primary energy source; however, we are surely decades away from such a transition, which, I believe, will be economically-driven. In the interim, as we seek energy independence, it seems foolish not to tap oil reserves available to us just off our shorelines. But, we absolutely must find a way to recover this oil in a way that doesn’t jeopardize our environment, that doesn’t threaten the fragile eco-systems of our coasts. I’d like to see a moratorium put on all new off-shore drilling until we have a demonstrated, effective and reliable way to cap a well head at whatever ocean depth we are drilling. Accidents are going to happen and we need to be sure we have the technology to respond to them. It’s completely irresponsible to punch a hole into an undersea oil field without having a way to plug that hole if something goes wrong. Again, economics will drive a solution. Oil companies, aching to drill off-shore, can pour millions of dollars into research and development aimed at devising technology to quickly stop undersea oil well leaks. In fact, the federal government should require the oil industry to conduct, or fund, a frank and comprehensive risk analysis of off-shore drilling. All significant risks should be addressed through some combination of policy and technology. We should be able to drill in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.