Elvis 1

Trenton Elvis
Mrs. Crist
English IV
4/5/16
Offshore Oil Drilling
Offshore oil drilling has major short and long term effects in the immediate areas
surrounding where it is located. Some of the impacts that it has can be devastating, not only to
the people but also to the animals it harms. There may be some good things that come out of
offshore oil drilling, but they are not worth the lives of many marine animals and the safety and
preservation of our oceans. There are many ways that offshore drilling can harm our community.
Offshore drilling can lead to oil spills, the release of unregulated polluted water into the oceans,
and many onshore impacts as well.
Offshore oil drilling can be very dangerous to the oceans. One of the main reasons it is so
dangerous is because it can lead to oil spills if something goes wrong on the oil rig. Some spills
can be caused due to faulty equipment that companies continue to use on the rigs offshore, which
in turn will continue to cause more oil spills in our oceans. Another reason that oil spills are so
harmful to our oceans is because it causes pollution and can kill animals and cause harm to other
organisms in the oceans. According to the Surfrider Foundation, there are about 880,000 gallons
of oil sent into the oceans from US drilling operations each year.(Beachapedia). A scientific
study showed that nearly five years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster (BP Oil Spill), there
was estimated to be anywhere from 6 to 10 gallons of oil left in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico
that may have contributed to the death of some marine life. There was also a study published in

Elvis 2

May of 2015 that stated there were dead bottlenose dolphins found stranded in the northern Gulf
of Mexico with lung and adrenal lesions as a result of the BP Oil Spill (Beachapedia).
The release of unregulated polluted water caused by offshore oil drilling is another thing
that is very harmful to the oceans. For example A recent study by the PEW Charitable Trust
concluded that a single oil well discharges around 1,500-2,000 tons of waste material
(Beachapedia). According to the Surfrider Foundation, this polluted water caused by offshore
drilling is known as drilling muds. These drilling muds can cause damage to the oceans and the
life in them. They can cause damage to the life in the ocean by smothering organisms, causing
malformation, genetic damage, and mortality in fish embryos. There have been a high
concentration in metals found around oil rigs, which bioaccumulates, or becomes concentrated in
our food chains (Beachapedia).
Offshore drilling not only impacts the oceans, it can also harm the land surrounding it as
well. Oil rigs, and the production of oil in general, require massive amounts of space to operate,
weather it is in or out of the ocean or sometimes both. This land that is being taken for the use of
storage tanks, pipelines and processing facilities could be used for something that attracts
revenue for the state, such as tourist attractions. For example Impacts associated with
infrastructure can severely damage beaches, wetlands and coastal habitats, which directly impact
local communities that rely on tourism and recreation.(Beachapedia).
Offshore oil drilling has a major impact in and out of the water when you actually take
the time to look into it. On the surface it seems like a good idea, we can get more oil, which
could possibly make the prices of gas go down, but in reality, there is so many things that
offshore oil drilling harms. Not only does it harm the ocean that it is located in by polluting the
water, killing the marine life, and harming the seafloor. It also harms the air we breathe, by

Elvis 3

releasing toxins into the air, and it hurts the beaches, wetlands, and coastal habitats, which will
hurt states that directly rely on tourism as a main industry of revenue. Offshore oil drilling
creates a domino effect in the areas surrounding it.

Works Cited
"Beachapedia." Offshore Oil Drilling -. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
"Grand Strand Officials Celebrate Reversal of Atlantic Offshore Drilling
Plans."Myrtlebeachonline. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.