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"Offshore Drilling." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/PC3010999290/OVIC?u=viva2_nvcc&sid=OVIC&xid=13e62208. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.

Offshore drilling is the industrial practice of accessing oil and natural gas deposits in large bodies of water off the continental mainland. The related terms deepwater drilling and deep well drilling describe techniques used to reach offshore oil deposits that are submerged at depths of approximately 1,300 feet (400 meters) or more. Some oil companies and regulatory agencies also use the term ultra-deepwater drilling, which applies to operations that extract oil resources from water depths exceeding 1,500 meters (4,900 feet).

In the oil industry, offshore drilling involves two distinct types of wells: exploratory wells, which are used to confirm the presence of oil deposits, and development wells, which facilitate the extraction of confirmed resources. Operators use a wide range of heavy equipment in offshore and deepwater drilling operations, including jack-up rigs for shallow operations (depths of 20 to 400 feet) and semisubmersible rigs and drill ships for operations at greater depths.

As of January 2018, there were nearly fifty active offshore and deepwater drilling operations taking place in marine territory controlled by the United States. Domestic offshore drilling practices help America meet its energy needs; as of 2015, the United States was the world’s leading consumer of oil, accounting for 20 percent of the entire world’s oil consumption. However, offshore drilling is a contentious issue due to its environmental impact and the risks it poses to human health and worker safety.

Environmental Impact

The production of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas significantly impacts the environment. The techniques used in offshore drilling operations generate large quantities of greenhouse gases and pollute water as well as air. Transporting extracted oil along the supply chain carries a significant risk of spills and other potentially damaging accidents. Waste products left over when extraction operations are complete can also be hazardous to the environment and to the health of marine and terrestrial life. While technological improvements and government-imposed environmental protection and remediation policies can help minimize these impacts, offshore and deepwater drilling continue to carry both inherent risks and ecological consequences.

A 1969 oil spill in Southern California played a major role in changing public perception of oil production and encouraged the introduction of environmental protection regulations specific to the offshore drilling industry. On January 28, 1969, an oil well blowout resulted in the uncontrolled release of three million gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara, coating affected waters along a 35-mile stretch of coastline with as much as six inches of oil. The spill had a devastating effect on marine plant and animal life, killing thousands of birds, destroying large quantities of kelp forest, and poisoning local seal and dolphin populations. It was the largest oil spill in US history at the time and has since been eclipsed only by the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill occurred when an offshore drilling rig exploded, killing eleven workers and triggering the release of over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over the course of 87 days. This disastrous incident earned intense media coverage around the world and resulted in a surface oil slick that measured 43,300 square miles. Trillions of larval fish were killed, along with tens of thousands of birds and billions of oysters. BP, the energy company in charge of the Deepwater Horizon well, accepted a guilty plea on multiple counts including manslaughter, crimes of environmental degradation, and obstructing Congressional inquiries. BP agreed to pay a $20.8 billion cleanup and remediation settlement in 2015. In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Obama administration established the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). The bureau was created to function as the lead federal government environmental protection and safety authority for offshore energy operations in US territory.

Human Health and Workplace Safety

Technicians and laborers who work on offshore oil rigs face a unique set of occupational health and safety risks. Accidents, injuries, and deaths are common despite intensive and comprehensive Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations specific to the offshore drilling industry. OSHA requires offshore drilling operators to enforce strict safety inspections, provide rigorous health and safety training programs to workers, and submit detailed incident reports for OSHA review whenever an accident occurs. According to the BSEE, 29 offshore oil rig workers were killed and 1,932 were injured on the job in the United States between 2009 and 2016. The BSEE also tracks statistics related to specific types of offshore drilling accidents; during the 2009–2016 period, there were 37 incidents related to loss of well control, 969 fires and explosions, 119 collisions, 177 gas releases, 1,361 accidents resulting from lifting, and 50 spills involving quantities of oil greater than 50 barrels.

The BSEE also plays a key role in monitoring and protecting the safety of offshore oil and gas workers, but in 2017, the administration of President Donald Trump abruptly halted an in-progress study conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to review the bureau’s ongoing offshore platform inspection program. The review was intended to generate insights for the BSEE to enhance its inspection protocols and improve worker safety.

In another action, the Trump administration announced in 2017 that it intends to overhaul the current federal monitoring system put in place to supervise the implementation of safety procedures on offshore drilling rigs. Oil and gas industry leaders and lobbyists had maintained that the BSEE regulations implemented by the Obama administration were cumbersome and overreaching and that they inhibited the cost efficiency of offshore operations. One key proposed change would see a rollback in regulations requiring offshore safety and pollution prevention equipment to be inspected and approved for use by independent, BSEE-certified auditors. Instead, operators will be encouraged to follow an established list of best practices developed internally by members of the oil and gas industry.

The Economy and Federal Policy

Despite its environmental impact, oil remains a vital source of energy and continues to be an important component of the American economy. According to some expert estimates, increasing offshore drilling activity in the United States could create up to 285,000 jobs and generate $195 billion in new private investment, all while increasing American energy security and supporting American energy independence. Offshore oil resource development also presents the American energy industry with an expanded range of options for future production, which could prove important as the world’s energy supply is governed by factors that can be unpredictable.

The Trump administration has expressed enthusiasm about the potential benefits of expanding offshore oil resource development and has indicated its intent to massively increase such activity through the aggressive sale of exploration and drilling rights. In early 2018, the administration announced a plan to auction drilling rights to offshore assets in the Arctic Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico, with possible plans to do the same in the Pacific Ocean. Previously, the Obama administration had moved to stop offshore drilling in the Atlantic, and withdrew 100 million acres of Arctic territory from possible development.

While government officials in some coastal areas supported the move for its potential economic benefits, others expressed disappointment and condemnation. The governors of North Carolina and Virginia had expressly asked the federal government to omit their offshore waters from any such drilling rights auctioning proposals, but their requests were not honored in the initial plan forwarded by the Trump administration. Florida was granted the sole exemption. The governors of Washington, Oregon, and California issued a joint statement in the aftermath of the announcement, voicing strong opposition to the proposed plan and indicating a commitment to climate change science that shows strong causal links between fossil fuel development and global warming. Within days of the announcement, California legislators also introduced a bill intended to block federal efforts to increase offshore drilling development in the state.

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)