Bush Wants to Open Offshore Drilling

June 19, 2008

In the days before a meeting of the global oil industry, President Bush pressed Congress on Wednesday to lift the long standing ban on offshore oil drilling. The President said there could be as much as 18 billion barrels of oil off the US coasts. The announcement, which if passed would surely hurt the national carbon footprint, came amid record high oil prices, which are expected to hurt the ailing American economy.

Leading Democrats, including Barack Obama and House Speaker Nanci Pelosi, quickly came out against Mr. Bush’s proposal. There was also condemnation from his own party as Republican Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, condemned the plan. The Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, has supported Mr. Bush in this area.

This weekend, Saudi Arabia is hosting a meeting of oil industry executives and government officials from around the world to address the rising price of oil and natural gas.

As the world’s largest consumer of oil, the high prices have hit their economy especially hard. Not surprisingly, as the largest consumer of oil, Americans also have the biggest carbon footprint per capita and are a leading contributor to global warming and climate change. The current weakness of the American dollar is making the high prices even more difficult to bear.

The bans on offshore drilling were first put in place in 1981 to protect the local environments. The ban covers the entire east and west coasts, although drilling is permitted in parts of the Gulf of Mexico. The bans are set to expire in 2012.

Lifting the drilling bans would surely have a negative impact on global warming and the national carbon footprint. Following basic economic principles, the high oil prices have caused a decrease in consumption, as clearly exhibited by a recent study of the UK which showed a 20% drop over the past 12 months. Allowing offshore drilling would open up more supply pushing prices back down and negating and improvements in oil and energy consumption. While it may be a good short term solution, it will certainly be detrimental in the long term.

Share This Story: