Kristen HaysIt is one of the most argued about points of the current political season. It may provide much needed support for our economy, but in a worst-case scenario it could wipe out an entire ecosystem.
Offshore oil drilling is a hot topic around the nation, but after a 25-year-long federal ban was lifted in September, drilling may be felt closer to home.
One vocal opponent is local congresswoman Lois Capps. Capps, who is serving the Central Coast through her 23rd district seat, issued a press release condemning congress for allowing the offshore drilling moratorium to lapse.
“Hopefully, with a new president, we can negotiate a compromise that respects the need to protect coastal states and puts our country on a path to a clean energy future,” Capps said in the release.
Drilling close to the coastline has also been a contentious battle. On Sept. 16, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow offshore drilling from about 50 to 100 miles offshore. Many politicians wanted to allow drilling as close as three miles off the coast.
The house bill followed President Bush removing the presidential moratorium his father had put in place in 1990. The bill’s passage effectively ended a moratorium that had been in effect in various forms for nearly 25 years.
Though oil drilling is currently banned in most state waters, cracks are beginning to show.
Santa Barbara County passed a resolution asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow drilling off its coast. A recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that roughly half of California supports offshore oil drilling, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi cautiously favors it.
I think it’s kind of disappointing,” said former Empower Poly President Chad Worth of the ban being lifted. “I think that it’s definitely a step in the wrong direction if our federal government is serious about taking aggressive measures to fight climate change.”
Worth agreed that a path to clean energy is in order and thanked Capps for helping to keep most offshore drilling away from most of the Central Coast.
“I’m very grateful that Lois Capps has kept oil drilling off the coast of San Luis Obispo County,” Worth said.
Empower Poly will host its Face the Nation event next February and it will look at what the school and area can do to increase alternative energy options.
While San Luis Obispo County has avoided drilling thanks to efforts by Capps and the community, nearby Santa Barbara County has shown what the negatives can be.
“All it takes is one little slip up and you can harm an ecosystem and really make you question what was right in the first place,” Worth said.
On Jan. 28, 1969, such a slip up occurred.
A blow-out on a Union Oil platform caused an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil to be dumped into the Santa Barbara Channel.
Estimates of the animal life lost vary, but numbers are in the thousands for birds that inhabited the area. Many water-living animals died as well in the disaster, which spread into an 800-mile slick by winds and swells.
Cal Poly Republicans president Jacki DeMarchi said that with advances in the technology the positives of offshore drilling outweigh the negatives.
“Drilling technology has changed dramatically since then; predominantly oil spills that take place now are during transportation rather than drilling,” DeMarchi said.
With the recent economic nosedive, proponents of offshore drilling say that it could have a major positive impact on constantly rising gas prices.
DeMarchi also said that economic issues such as rising gas prices need to be fought now, and that offshore drilling is a good way to get prices to drop.
“I think that people are clearly upset about gas prices and that until we can research alternative fuels we have to be able to support ourselves domestically,” DeMarchi said. “Our demand domestically has increased a lot in the last 20 years and we’re importing far more than we ever have before. The more oil that we have in the market, it will decrease and markets won’t be as volatile.”
Worth disagreed.
“I think it’s foolish to think we’ll be able to fix our oil problems offshore,” he said. “Just because we drill here doesn’t mean it comes here.”
Worth said that offshore drilling will likely become a necessity at some point but other energy sources would be more ideal.
Estimates put the U.S. oil reserves at around three percent of the world share, with consumption up to 25 percent.
“My whole opinion on drilling in general is, ‘Sure we’re going to need to do it,'” Worth said. “At the same time we should be saving the oil we do have for things that we absolutely need it for, like aviation or our ships or the shipping industry rather than be drilling for oil for cars that could or can be more efficient.”
Local organizations are also rallying against the lifting of the offshore ban, including the Santa Lucia chapter of the Sierra Club.
“We’re totally opposed to (offshore drilling),” Sierra Club Community Development Coordinator Ken Smokoska said. “We’re primarily opposed because there are significant alternatives instead of drilling off our beautiful shoreline.”
Smokoska pointed to renewable energy as an alternative to drilling and cited an island in Denmark that relies completely on renewable sources.
“Samsoe, Denmark is a leading example of the possibilities of renewable energy,” Smokoska said. “There are better ways we can provide for ourselves aside from drilling.”
There are other things that Americans can do to remove the country’s reliability on oil according to Smokoska.
“We need to make an investment in electric cars and transition away from our oil mindset,” Smokoska said. “It makes solid economic sense to shift and localize renewable energy. If we make a shift to localize energy with renewable energy, it will provide a huge economic windfall. We need that.”