The potential environmental risk is massive and thus offshore drilling should not be allowed because it can have such an effect on the environment, both in the short term and long term. Offshore drilling could lead to the extinction of various species, and a ban would be a sure way to help preserve biodiversity.

The technique for this formidable task was accomplished on June 14, 1970, in the Atlantic Ocean in 10,000 ft (3048 m) of water off the coast of New York….Coring operations.

Offshore drilling began in 1897, just 38 years after Col. Edwin Drake drilled the first well in 1859. H.L. Williams is credited with drilling a well off a wooden pier in the Santa Barbara Channel in California.

Overview. Offshore drilling for oil and gas threatens marine life, and pollution from burning fossil fuels is the leading cause of climate change and ocean acidification. Also, the burning of fossil fuels is the leading source of carbon pollution, which contributes to global warming and ocean acidification.

Drilling will also increase oil revenues for the state of Alaska , which is a huge benefit. And drilling oil in ANWR could possibly lower gas prices at the pump. Americans pay a lot of money for gas and for that price to be lowered, even by a little bit, it would be very beneficial.

There are as many reasons that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a bad idea as there are caribou that call it home. Drilling in the refuge would damage the habitat of the wolves, muskoxen, arctic foxes, wolverines, brown bears, golden eagles, tundra swans and snowy owls that call it home.

As of 2017, Republicans have attempted to allow drilling in ANWR almost fifty times, finally being successful with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. ANWR comprises 19 million acres (7.7 million ha) of the north Alaskan coast.

The Arctic is no place for oil and gas drilling, and this site is not far from one of America’s last wild places—the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“Oil and gas drilling could wipe out polar bears on the coastal plain of the Arctic national wildlife refuge in our lifetimes,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and chief executive of Defenders of Wildlife, in a statement.

The vast size, remote location, and extreme weather conditions—combined with the complete lack of infrastructure for responding to oil spills—make drilling in the Arctic Ocean extremely dangerous. Our ability to respond to emergencies and oil spills is severely limited.

Exploring and drilling for oil may disturb land and marine ecosystems. Seismic techniques used to explore for oil under the ocean floor may harm fish and marine mammals. Drilling an oil well on land often requires clearing an area of vegetation.

Shell found evidence of oil in the Arctic, but it still decided not to drill. And in Shell’s own statement on why the company decided to abandon its Arctic drilling operations, the company cites a “challenging regulatory environment” as one key reason for halting its search for Arctic oil.

Denial is no longer an acceptable response.” Contradictory to his 2008 campaign promises on the Offshore drilling debate, Obama felt obliged to open coastal areas off the Alaskan coast to exploratory assessments for oil and gas as a means to continue to stimulate economic growth.

Horizontal drilling increases the production rate of a well because it has greater surface area and because it allows access to oil miles away and in hard-to-reach areas. Arctic Power says that 90 percent of the wells in Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in the U.S., are horizontal.