Free Custom «Fuel Crisis in the USA» Essay Paper

US should not opt for offshore drilling as a remedy for its oil crisis. This approach cannot solve the crisis due to the various points that I hereby put on discussion.

The amount of oil present in the reservoirs of the US off-shores is an estimate forty barrels of oil. With an annual consumption rate of seven barrels, drilling the offshore oil will solve this crisis for approximately five years only (Gertz, 2008). This, therefore, implies that the option is a temporal solution that does not take care of the future generation. A permanent solution, which can assure the future generation of availability of fuel, is an investment into alternative sources of fuel such as clean coal and solar energy. Exploration of such renewable and inexhaustible sources of energy is a future investment for the future generations of the United States (Brune & Kerry, 2010).

Critics of alternative sources of fuel as a solution believe that drilling of the offshore oil will help reduce the world price of oil and gas (Yergin, 2008). To the contrary, the economies of scale favour the idea of venturing into other sources. First, the percentage of oil on the off-shores of the US is a drop in the ocean of the world reservoirs. This implies that drilling this oil will barely affect the price of oil, set by OPEC that operates as an independent body. Alternatively, the venture of other sources of fuel will reduce the world price of oil due to decrease in demand. The US is a large consumer of oil, thus a shift to other sources will lead to a decrease in demand, thus a decrease in the price (SodaHead Politics, 2010).

 

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It does not require an environmentalist to argue about the pollution effects that offshore drilling cause to the environment. While drilling, leaks and spills are accidents that are prone to happen. Noise and toxic gases are unavoidable in such activities. The effects of this pollution endanger the ecosystem. Exploitation of alternative sources is environmental friendly and does not cause considerable concern about the future of ecosystem (Gertz, 2008).

In conclusion, offshore drilling is unnecessary. Its only exploitation of other alternative sources of fuel that will ensure the oil crisis in the US gets a permanent and harmless solution.