Offshore oil drilling began in 1897 at the end of a pier in California and is still an important source of oil over 100 years later. In addition, there are currently 252 offshore oil rigs in the United States producing almost 6 billion barrels a year. (U.S. Energy Information Administration). Many offshore oil rigs are off the coast of the United States and although there are regulations, disasters have happened and because of this, offshore oil drilling has become a prevalent topic. Adding in the debate of whether or not it should be prohibited, the interest level goes through the roof leaving many people definitively on one side.

          Thousands of people are employed by the numerous oil drilling companies. If offshore oil drilling is prohibited all of those positions within the company will be eliminated. According to Chris John, President of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, in the article titled "Offshore drilling: Slow Comeback after BP," Louisiana accounts for the majority of the Gulf's oil workers and has 320,000 people employed directly or indirectly with the oil and gas industry. (Offshore Drilling: Slow Comeback after BP.) This is showing how many people are employed with the oil and gas industry in Louisiana alone. If these jobs are eliminated that leaves 320,000 workers trying to find jobs in the already limited job market in the United States. According to a Quest Offshore projection by 2035, 279,562 jobs would be created. Creating all of these jobs is a much better option compared to the alternative which is losing all of the jobs. (Quest Offshore Report.) At first glance losing all of the jobs may look detrimental but after looking into it more thoroughly there are strengths and limitations to losing this astronomical amount of jobs. The limitations include that some of the people could have opportunities to be promoted to a job that is still required even if the company is not drilling offshore. The strengths of this claim is that if the people losing those jobs can't find new ones, the United States unemployment rate goes up and all of those workers may require state assistance. This is a minor issue when compared to the dangers of drilling a substantial distance offshore.
          Farther from shore there is more oil, enticing companies to drill in the deeper sea. When companies do this, they are creating bigger dangers to their employees and leaving themselves vulnerable to a colossal disaster. Robert Bea, an engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley had salient information on the subject. During an interview with Yale Environment 360, a publication of Yale University he remarked, “this is a pretty frigging complex system,” showing how even a professor knew how in depth the systems these companies are using are. During the interview he also stated what the equipment entails, “You've got equipment and steel strung out over a long piece of geography starting at the surface and terminating at 18,000 feet below the seafloor. So it has many potential weak points.” Even to a person with a lesser intellectual capacity this sounds like a dangerous system. The Live Science article also expressed that,"with deeper drilling depths comes increased danger including higher risks of accidents, spills and fires," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This ties back to the previous evidence because according to the NOAA with drilling deeper more dangers emerge. (Why Is Offshore Drilling So Dangerous?) As with the previous claim there are strengths and limitations. One of the strengths to this claim is that there is a high chance of there being a disaster which could cause more damage to the environment than the U. S. can afford. One peculiar limitation is that of federal control over the waters. The U. S. can only control at most 12 nautical miles off the shore. This leaves much uncontrolled water for companies to drill. (Maritime Zones and Boundaries.) Although offshore oil drilling has become more dangerous in the antecedent years prohibiting it could cause a large loss of money in coastal states.
          Atlantic coast states collect millions from oil drilling off their shores; this number is projected to increase. If offshore oil drilling is prohibited, it cuts millions out of the states income. Quest Offshore prepared some projections for the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA). The projections were completed by a team consisting of Paul Hillegeist, the President & COO, Project Executive, Sean Shafer, the project director and Matt Gross, the project manager. Their projections consisted of the millions that Atlantic states will make off of continued drilling. In their findings, there would be no huge impact until 2023. In 2023 the Atlantic coast states and the federal government could collect 4 billion dollars. Quest’s projections continued until the year 2035. In 2035 they projected the coast states and the government to be collecting upwards of 25 billion. Quest also predicted how much of an effect the oil drilling would have on the states revenue. In 2035 Quest projected over 12 billion of revenue for the coast states and the government. This projection showed no major change in the revenue until 2027 when the coast states and the government would have slightly under 1 billion in revenue instead of the previous 500 million. (Quest Offshore Report.) These projections show that in due time oil drilling will have a positive impact on the economy. Like with any claim there are strengths and limitations. Including the strengths of the gargantuan amount of money the coast states and government collects. The limitations comprise of one main issue, that the numbers are only projections and not facts. Even though these numbers show how much oil drilling helps the economy, disasters can cost just as much.
         There are many dangers to offshore oil drilling and prohibiting it can eliminate most or all of the dangers. One of the many dangers that offshore oil drilling brings about includes oil spills. Oil spills can cause a chain reaction of different problems. Those include food chain interruption, killing animals, ecosystem interruption and lowering of oil production rate. According to About, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill killed upwards of 500,000 seabirds and many shore birds and bald eagles. All of the dead birds interrupted the food chain because whatever animals eat the birds had a limited number to eat. This issue recurs for many years and it takes to ecosystem many more to fully recover for the oil spill. The NOAA conducted a study that showed 26,000 gallons of oil was still along the Alaska shoreline from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. (How Do Oil Spills Damage the Environment?) This means that 25 years after the oil spill that there is still a gigantic amount of oil left in the environment. The strengths and limitations of this claim are limitless. One strength is that damaging the environment from preventable disaster costs the state and the federal government millions. Not only do oil spills cost millions, they cause immeasurable damage to the fragile marine environment. A main limitation is that large oil spills are rare and oil is seeping out from the bottom of the ocean every day. With large oil spills a rare phenomenon because of how safe companies make their rigs, this damage rarely occurs.
          In conclusion, oil drilling is an important part of the United States economy even though it can cause extensive damage to the environment. Offshore oil drilling should be prohibited because of the increasing dangers including drilling farther offshore and in deeper water. Offshore oil drilling should also be prohibited because of the many dangers caused by oil spills. Even though there are many reasons to prohibit offshore oil drilling there are just as many reasons to not prohibit it. They include, if offshore oil drilling is prohibited thousands of jobs will be lost. Another reason is that if offshore oil drilling is not prohibited the Atlantic coast states and the federal government can collect billions in revenue. Offshore oil drilling can cause immeasurable damage to the environment but it can also drastically improve the United States economy. What side do you agree with? Offshore oil drilling should be prohibited or offshore oil drilling shouldn't be prohibited?