Sunday, September 23, 2012

Alaskan Drilling Dispute

      
Article:

            


           The Obama administration will go ahead with more drilling in Arctic waters, though at a pace that allows for more research before additional permits are granted.
The administration will hold new lease sales for oil companies to drill in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas just north of Alaska, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters.The plan is apparently designed to please both environmentalists and drilling advocates, though it risks irking everyone.
Industry types would prefer a much faster timetable to get the drilling going, while many opponents want it halted permanently.
The administration is hoping the move will defray criticism that it's not moving fast enough to allow more domestic energy production.
But that seems unlikely.
"Only now that excuses are running out are they moving forward as slowly as possible," said a spokeswoman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Obama has attempted to take a middle-of-the-road approach to energy development throughout his presidency.
He's resumed leasing in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP (BP) disaster, plans to allow drilling in the Arctic, and has done little to restrict hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- in domestic oil and gas fields despite fears that the process is contaminating ground water.
But the number of permits issued and acres available for drilling have generally been lower under Obama's administration than in George W. Bush's administration, which preceded it.
On Tuesday, Salazar said it's "highly likely" the final permits for Royal Dutch Shell's (RDSA) Arctic drilling operation, set for this summer, will be issued shortly.
Shell won its Arctic leases during the Bush administration, but its final permits to drill have so far not been granted by Obama. Sources expect the final OK to come this week.

Sources:

            Article: http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/26/news/economy/arctic-drilling/index.htm
            Picture: http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/monopod-oil-platform-3221-pictures.htm


My Summary:

       Obama's administration is going to do more drilling in the Arctic, but is trying to please environmentalists as well by slowing the pace and making permits harder to recieve. This plan may be met with failure if BOTH sides are still completely against the idea. This risk poses a hard position for the Obama administration, so they attempt to "defray critisism" that it isnt moving along quick  enough.
            The drilling could cause another major disruption of the ecosystem surrounding it like BPs mishap in the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out or killing many of the indigenous species. On the other side of the arguement, you have problems such as less energy to go around, not that it would affect everyone, but less oil means higher fuel prices, which doesn't help our already slow climb out of the recent recession.
             All in all, it is not an easy decision for the Obama administration, and I do not envy his position, but something must be done so that the drill site's environment stays in equlibrium and we recieve the much needed energy.


Question:

          What is your stance on the subject? Do you think some kind of compromise can be made?



5 comments:

  1. Susan Allen-Gil is the name of the professor i invited and i thought she would be a good choice because she has a background in enviormental science and teaches at ITHACA College. I thought she would be a good choice because her primaray of reasearch is in enviormental toxicolgy, which is studies of how pollutants affect the enviorment. she seams like a good fit because we have the alaskan drilling aspects.

    Here is the email i sent to her...

    Hi, so we are a group of 9th graders who have to make a blog about enviormental impacts on the community, we would be very happy to have you come read our blog and comment about it. if you cant, it's fine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. this link can give you a simplified list of the pros and cons of the Alaskan oil drilling
    http://www.balancedpolitics.org/anwr_drilling.htm
    this link will give you a detailed argument from bith sides as to whether or not drilling should be allowed in Alaska
    http://www.ecoworld.com/animals/oil-drilling-in-alaska.html
    also, these youtube links can show you how people feel about the drilling, what should happen and why it should or shouldnt happen.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwCbWPR7VK8
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCpqhT_8zj0
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR3BdJDQSgM

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh no, the links arent working, i guess you going to need to copy and paste the urls into your searches

      Delete
  3. The Obama administration is trying to promote helping the environment. I think that drilling in Alaska with restrictions is a great idea. They will make it a slower process and make it harder to get a permit. This will help the environment but also help us gain the energy that we need desperately. We have been importing oil from foreign companies, so if we have resources in our country then we can use them. I think a better plan might be restricting the amount of land that a company can use to drill. I hope that this plan gets passed so we can have a nice blend of both sides.

    1) Do you agree with the Presidents plan? If not, what would be your plan?
    2) Should we stop Alaskan drilling or should it continue? explain why?
    3) What is more important right now the environment or the energy?

    ReplyDelete
  4. What is your stance on the subject?
    My stance is that we need to start the drilling quickly. Drilling will create extra jobs, and like Zach said, lower the price for oil, which we really need to become an economic powerhouse again. However, we should not drill all of the oil because we may need it in the future if oil becomes scarce.

    Do you agree with the Presidents plan? If not, what would be your plan?
    I do not agree with the president's plan for the simple fact that I believe he's stalling. When the leases are given in 2016, he will be out of office, and I think that is the reason he is trying to take "A middle stance". When he doesn't make the decision right away, he seems unsure of himself, and you should always believe in your decisions, so if he doesn't believe in them than I'm not going to either. My plan would be to keep drilling starting soon to try to get our economy booming again. As we climb out of the recession, we can start worrying about the environment. It is okay to sacrifice some species diversity by drilling in this case, because we need it very badly. You can't replenish oil, but we need to take it now.

    ReplyDelete