Offshore Drilling?

Recently gas prices have gone way up. A couple of years ago it was a lot lower then it spiked to two and now everyone is complaining. Should the U.S. drill offshore in order to lower gas prices?

Scientists don't actually know how much oil there is along our coasts in the first place. Some estimate a very little, others more, but an agreed upon figure remains elusive. Furthermore, conservative and liberal economists alike acknowledge that it will likely be around 10 years before the first drops of offshore oil will actually start entering into the economy. Also, not until 2030 will, if there really is enough oil down there in the first place, will there be enough oil being produced to actually have a noticeable effect on the economy. Converted into dollars, that effect should be somewhere around only 3 or 4 cents per gallon of gas. Is the potential/inevitable environmental damage worth that no matter how great or small it is?

Over the month of July offshore drilling has bounded its way onto the main stage of the 2008 presidential contest. As Americans feel the burden of $4+ gas prices, presidential hopeful John McCain has done an effective job of shifting the focus to offshore drilling, which has proven to be his strongest method of shifting the polls as American's are looking for a way to easy there gas pump melancholy. McCain has clasped on to the idea of offshore drilling with the purpose of gaining traction in the polls. And who can blame him for it, he's trying to win an election and it's a smart campaign move. But a smart campaign move is all it really is. Offshore drilling is really an unimportant issue that will have minimal long term effects on the economy whether it is passed or not. At best, it will only damage the environment a little bit, it will lower unemployment by 0.02 percent, and ten years from now it will cause gas prices to be only $8.00 per gallon instead of $8.04. On the flip side, if we go doom and gloom and imagine things don't go so well, we could be looking at a number of environmental issues including dying coral reefs, severe damage to local ecosystems, inedible fish, thus killing off the fishing industry, really ugly oil spills from hurricanes or negligence that could take years to clean up, and lastly, a crippled tourist industry. Both outcomes are equally likely, and the actual outcome would probably be somewhere in the middle.