Drilling oil in the usa - Essay Example

According to the plan, oil will be drilled in the Atlantic coast, Alaska’s northern coast and Mexico’s eastern Gulf. This can only be achieved as long as the coastlines remain protected. Initially, oil drilling had been banned because of the environmental concerns. Oil spills imposed severe threats to the health and safety of the natural environment. Oil drilling in Pacific Coast, New Jersey northward and Bristol Bay of Alaska is still prohibited (Shannon). Through this plan, President Barack Obama intends to make US self sufficient for fulfilling its energy needs.

However, there is dire need to formulate and implement energy policies that would ensure environmental protection and safety. Although the plans of President Obama aim at strengthening the economy of US in the long run, yet they are a big source of threat to the ever worsening environmental conditions. Until 1970, US had been producing enough oil to suffice its own needs. However, ever since 1970, US’s oil needs grew manifolds, and hence, the oil had to be imported. Oil production in US faced a sharp downfall after the collapse of oil prices in 1986.

In 2000, the production of oil declined by 24 per cent as compared to its production rate in 1985 (Churchill). In 2000, the proportion of oil produced in US out of the total world’s production was no more than 12 per cent. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) had recorded that till 1 January 2000, the number of oil reserves in US were 21 billion barrels (Churchill). Oil reserves have been decreasing in number in US ever since, and the current plan is likely to cause more harm to the environment than good to the society because the oil reserves will soon vanish any way, but the harms caused to the environment in the course of their exploration would sustain for a long period of time, perhaps till the end of the world.

There has been considerable protest against this policy. President Barack Obama had been watchful of the possible emergence of protests against the plan by the environmental agencies. He said these words in a speech explaining his consent on the security of energy, But the bottom line is this: given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth, produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we're going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy.

(Obama cited in Shannon). This plan made by Presient Barack Obama has conventionally received a lot of criticism. There is no doubt in the fact that upon its implementation, the plan would impose serious environmental threats in US. In his speech, President Barack Obama does approve of the idea of looking for new and renewable sources of energy, but intends to change the oil attainment strategy meanwhile. Considering the extensively damaged environment, there is dire need to immediately discover and implement alternative sources of energy.

As research is being done to find new ways, US should abstain from drilling oil and continue importing oil because the ultimate solution lies not in the use of oil, but in the use of alternative sources of energy. “The only real way to quit relying on foreign oil is to wean ourselves from oil" altogether” (David cited in The Week). Global warming is already a leading issue of the contemporary age. We can not afford to