An Offshore Oil Rig

The Issue: Congressional Democrats have conceded to allowing the 25-year moratorium on offshore drilling expire, allowing the oil that lies beneath the Pacific Coast to be subject to development. With the recent rise in the cost of oil, consumers have seen an increase in the price of gas up to $4 a gallon. Is domestic oil drilling the correct direction for United States Energy Policy?

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the extension of the drilling moratorium was to be attached to a spending bill up for a vote in the House of Representatives Wednesday. The article states:

“The Interior Department estimates there are 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil beneath the Outer Continental Shelf, about half of it off California.”

California has long protected its coastlines from drilling. This switch to supporting domestic drilling is not the right move for California, or the United States as a whole. Rather than investing in renewable energy as we should, we are finding new sources of oil. When the oil reserves in the California Coast run dry, we will have destroyed California’s environment and made no major steps toward energy independence. Congress needs to be thinking about long-term American energy needs. Specifically, this policy move must be coupled with great incentives for sustainable energy development. Otherwise, this Congress is passing the buck to the Congress 20 years from now and not making any attempt to solve the American energy problem.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said:

“We look forward to working with the next president to hammer out a final resolution of this issue.”

McCain Supports the offshore drilling completely, Obama supports drilling in the south Atlantic only. It seems that this Presidential election will have a direct effect on California’s oceans.