Marcus McCoy

Professor Sipin
English 211C
April 14, 2015
Domestic Oil Drilling
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill was the largest offshore oil accident in U.S. history.
(Bennear 6) The oil spill occurred from a lack of proper cement sealing around the entrance of
the oil well and miscalculations. New regulations were taken into consideration and made to be
mandatory so that the proper safety precautions took care of there ever being an oil spill again.
With the evolution of oil spills getting better after each accident oil drilling platforms have
become safer for the surrounding areas and environment. This allows more production of oil in
America and there to be more selling of oil to foreign countries than we buy from them. Oil from
America should be the only place where we drill and receive our oil from. Americas problem in
todays time is that we buy too much foreign products rather than manufacturing it ourselves.
Domestic Oil drilling in America should be allowed in the U.S. because the pros outweigh the
cons. The U.S. has to stop being so dependent on foreign oil because it causes us to lose more
money than what we should be making. Oil drilling is defined in the American Heritage
Dictionary of the English language as a hole drilled or dug in the earth from which petroleum
flows or is pumped. To some Americans, oil drilling along the coast or inland puts a lot of the
environment at risk along with the animals in it, but what is failed to be realized is that oil
drilling has evolved over the years significantly, from when it use to have constant oil spills, and
can be safely and efficiently done. America depends so much on foreign oil because we import

more than we sell. It has only been within the last few years that Domestic oil drilling has
increased and the dependence on foreign oil decreased but the need to buy any needs to stop all
together to reduce the dependency we have on other countries.
To begin with, there are significant positives as to why America should domestically oil
drill within our own country. One being is that if America drills all of its own oil then we can
export it for profit and use our own proceeds to further help aid in other important cost within the
country. The creation of jobs for thousands of Americans would significantly increase due to
more oil platforms and oil refining areas created along the coast and inland areas. As stated in an
article the benefits would be the revenues going to the producers, benefits would go to U.S.
buyers associated with lower world oil prices and an economic reduction in the U.S. economy
involving rapid oil prices (Robert and Passel). Research also done by a man named T. Boone
Pickens gives the positive effects of oil drilling and encourages domestic oil drilling in Alaska
and in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, the coast and other areas of
domestic oil drilling all are enough to supply the U.S. with oil but certain laws in areas restrict
from the search and drilling of oil due to safety hazards of the area. The only reason why these
laws exist is because oil rigs and platforms use to be very dangerous but new technology and
trial and error over the decades has evolved platforms of today to be safe enough when
maintained and run efficiently. If the U.S. was to drill its own oil a 100% then oil prices within
the U.S. would reduce dramatically and would cause cheaper gas prices (Robert and Passel).
Study has also shown that marine fouling invertebrates can be used as good monitors to
determine how soon they can recover from oil when the Gulf of Mexico had an oil spill (Hannah,
Heyes, and Mitchelmore). This aids how the oil platforms continuously evolve from mistakes
and can only further improve to where there are no mistakes. Today the U.S has made enough

progress to be one of the top producers of oil in the world but if the U.S. had more oil domestic
oil drilling locations it could be the number one oil producer in the world.
Next, there is the other half of America that does not support the fact that domestic oil
drilling in America could be more beneficial to the U.S. but instead could only do worse.
Anywhere that oil drilling is done there will always be risk of loss of habitat for animals and
when an oil spill occurs there is always the risk of it effecting the wildlife, but there is also
further offshore oil drilling places that have advanced to the point where they can be further out
into the ocean and drill more oil without effecting the inland or aquatic animals. These to most
are good enough reasons as to why the U.S. should not have oil platforms and rigs all together
but if that was the ultimate case then we for sure wouldnt have a single export of oil and would
significantly lose more money and put out once again more money than the U.S. already does. In
the Artic there has been drilling fluids that have caused contamination of wetlands and the
toxicity to aquatic invertebrates and fish (Woodward). With recent innovations this is being
solved and fixed. This is why domestic oil drilling is so controversial because there are important
negative effects that need to be addressed, but like all controversial topics they all have negative
sides and the pros in this case outweigh the cons.
The solution for this is to have more efficient and safe oil platform rigs that are constantly
maintained to keep the surrounding areas from getting polluted. Creating more safe oil refineries
in the U.S. is the answer to better the economy, better gas prices and better the independency of
the U.S. in the world. With this profit from oil and the creation of more jobs, due to more oil type
jobs being created, the U.S. would be a very profitable country. BOEMRE, the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management, had its first rule to be made a Drilling Rule that made more command
control regulations for the platforms that stopped future accidents being made. (Bennear 7).

SEMS, the Safety and Environmental Management System, was something that each oil platform
was to have which, requires that each facility conduct a hazards analysis or risk assessment,
develop plans for management of change,6 operations, training, and maintenance, and develop
emergency response plans that demonstrate operations can be conducted safely. Facilities must
also establish procedures for investigating incidents and developing follow-up plans. (Bennear
7) This proves that oil platforms in America have evolved and transformed into safer areas of
work where there will not be any accidents and it will be more beneficial to the U.S. than
harmful.
The U.S. is in fact is one of the top countries in the world that produces the most oil.
America has come a long way as far as evolving in it domestic oil platforms and refineries to the
point hardly no mistakes are made now when run to the best and most efficient way possible.
There will always be a negative view and cons to a topic such as oil drilling because of how
controversial it is. The U.S. does not need to lose money due to constantly buying oil but instead
profit primarily from selling it. The offshore oil and gas industry has experienced rapid growth,
which has enabled petroleum engineers to drill in deeper water and in more extreme conditions
than anyone could have imagined even 10 years ago. (Bennear 18) This proves the advancement
in the technology used to make sure platforms are as secure as they possibly can be. Domestic oil
drilling in the U.S. should be allowed more because the pros outweigh the cons and would
significantly help the U.S. advance in being not one of but the top power country in the world
and most profitable.

Work Cited
Kral, Steve. "Americans want increased domestic oil and gas exploration." Mining Engineering
July 2008: 4. Computers & Applied Sciences Complete. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Bennear, Lori S. "Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling: A Review of Regulatory Regimes in The
United States, United Kingdom, and Norway." Review of Environmental Economics &
Policy 9.1 (2015): 2-22. Environment Complete. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Burke, C. M., W. A. Montevecchi, and F. K. Wiese. "Inadequate Environmental Monitoring
Around Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms on the Grand Bank of Eastern Canada: Are Risks
to Marine Birds Known?" Journal of environmental management 104 (2012): 1216. ProQuest. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Hahn, Robert, and Peter Passell. "The Economics of Allowing More U.S. Oil Drilling." Energy
Economics 32.3 (2010): 638-50.ProQuest. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Pie, Hannah V., Andrew Heyes, and Carys L. Mitchelmore. "Investigating The Use Of Oil
Platform Marine Fouling Invertebrates As Monitors Of Oil Exposure in The Northern
Gulf Of Mexico." Science Of The Total Environment 508. (2015): 553-565. Environment
Complete. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Woodward, D. F., et al. "Drilling Fluids and the Arctic Tundra of Alaska: Assessing
Contamination of Wetlands Habitat and the Toxicity to Aquatic Invertebrates and
Fish." Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 17.5 (1988): 68397.ProQuest. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.