Against+Offshore+Drilling

WE ARE AGAINST DRILLING OFFSHORE IN THE UNITED STATES FOR OIL



__**Cons (environment): **__
 * Offshore drilling mainly affects the sea animals and the sea life
 * When oil spills occur the animals are affected.
 * Noted from the picture above, when oil spills go wrong animals are covered with oil affecting their health and also affects there home of the sea
 * Many off shore drilling oil spills occur when drilling happens

__**CONS (economic): **__
 * =====According to the report by the House Committee on Natural Resources Majority Staff, there is no correlation between drilling and gas prices. When drilling went up, gasoline prices still rose dramatically. =====
 * =====There isn’t enough oil for what we need, so this extra drilling won’t make a difference. =====
 * =====Oil companies aren’t taking advantage of the leases they have now (4,000 undeveloped leases) so it is unnecessary for them to be given more land. =====
 * =====Gasoline could continue to rise because companies want to justify their investments. =====
 * =====Oil production would be expensive but it would take a long time to start (according to the Energy Information Administration) and there would only be a short-term effect (according to the Energy Information Administration.) =====
 * =====There isn’t enough drilling equipment because the oil is so high and companies don’t have the resources for this =====

Most Recent: DISASTERS **2010** **Jan. 23, Port Arthur, Texas:** The oil tanker //Eagle Otome// and a barge collide in the Sabine-Neches Waterway, causing the release of about 462,000 gallons of crude oil. Environmental damage was minimal as about 46,000 gallons were recovered and 175,000 gallons were dispersed or evaporated, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. **April 24, Gulf of Mexico:** The //Deepwater Horizon,// a semi-submersible drilling rig, sank on April 22, after an April 20th explosion on the vessel. Eleven people died in the blast. When the rig sank, the riser—the 5,000-foot-long pipe that connects the wellhead to the rig—became detached and began leaking oil. In addition, U.S. Coast Guard investigators discovered a leak in the wellhead itself. As much as 60,000 barrels of oil per day were leaking into the water, threatening wildlife along the Louisiana Coast. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared it a "spill of national significance." BP (British Petroleum), which leased the //Deepwater Horizon,// is responsible for the cleanup, but the U.S. Navy supplied the company with resources to help contain the slick. Oil reached the Louisiana shore on April 30, affected about 125 miles of coast. By early June, oil had also reached Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. It is the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

=There are oil spills EVERY SINGLE YEAR, some have more impact than others, but NONE of them cause anything good, they are all DISASTERS, HUMAN DISASTERS! =

Time-Line of oil spills and a brief description of if the horrific outcome. It is all over the world…and almost every single year, some have multiple events during a single year.

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Accidents include leaks, spills, blowouts, barge collisions, pipeline corrosion, and explosions.

For any spill, only 5-15% can be cleaned up.

97% of all the spills that occur, many are under 1,000 barrels. It is not required for these spills to be reported in the federal Oil Spill Risk Analysis, because their size is considered "small." WE MAY NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON…

Who has the say? Right now federal government, but the government doesn’t even tell us all the spills, and many government representatives have decided to take environment side anyways.

It is harming the animal life, damaging the environment, which is damage to human life.