Disappointment over offshore drilling is missing the point

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

You can tell when the Huffington Post is being melodramatic about Obama because that's when they paste an ugly picture on the front page. Right now it looks like this.



Much different from the front you'll see when they approve of something Obama is doing, like singing the order to close Guantanamo.



But let's get to the subject of offshore drilling itself. Is Obama being hypocritical in allowing offshore drilling when he previously said he wouldn't? The answer to this is: 1) Who cares, and 2) Well, he did say later on during the campaign that he was in favour of limited offshore drilling.

Why who cares? That's simple. The US imports 65% of its oil. This oil has to come from somewhere, meaning that in order to supply this demand for oil some pristine environment is going to be destroyed. One proposed area off Virginia may hold 130 million barrels, for example, the equivalent of just ten days worth of imports. But if this resource isn't tapped, then the 130 million barrels will simply come from elsewhere, be it the Caspian Sea or somewhere else. So the only real issue here is energy consumption. Find a solution to clean renewable energy in the United States and this wouldn't be an issue in the first place.

One other reason for drilling off the coast of the United States is geopolitical, since more oil that can be obtained at home = less influence for countries that produce oil but aren't on the friendliest terms with the US.

As for energy itself, let's listen to Bill Gates and his most recent TED talk.

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