Best Writing of Freshman Year #1

Oil Spill Article Response

A plane crashes; everyone rushes to find out more details, and more safety regulations are put in place. A terrorist attack occurs; there is a scramble to discover the source and exact target, then more security is put in airports. However, when there is an almost unfathomable amount of oil gushing from the earth’s crust into the Gulf of Mexico, other companies just keep on digging. Oil is the driving force of our world. The amount of oil consumed globally on a daily basis is staggering. The huge need for oil has created a huge oil industry. This industry is beneficial, however, involves some of the most dangerous jobs on the planet. The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was a perfect showing of just how dangerous it can get. The government should temporarily stop all digging and get the industry regulated, then look further into alternative energy sources.


Although all drilling is supposed to be halted while an investigation of the rig that exploded is conducted, it is continuing. “At least six of the drilling projects that have been given waivers in the past four weeks are for waters that are deeper-and therefore more difficult and dangerous-than where Deepwater Horizon was operating,” says Ian Urbina in “Despite Obama’s Moratorium, Drilling Projects Move Ahead.” They not only are continuing to drill, but embarking on even more challenging digs. With so much damage to our environment already done, the last thing we need is more rig explosions like this past one. Officially, no new drilling projects were to be started after April 20, 2010, because of the explosion. “However, Newfield Exploration Company has confirmed that it began drilling a deep-water well in 2,095 feet of water after April 20,” Urbina states. Our government needs to actually step in now. All digging needs to be temporally stopped along with the issuing of permits and waivers to oil companies. An investigation as to the exact cause of this recent explosion needs to be carried out. New regulations should be placed not only on rigs in the gulf, but all around the world so that an event like this can be prevented in the future. And finally, we need to turn our focus away from oil to new energy sources.

The only way to be sure something like this doesn’t happen again is to move away from oil and start looking more at renewable energy sources. Not only will these greatly improve our environment, they will also ensure that we will not run out of energy as soon as we run out of oil. The research and eventually production of these new fuel options will secure our future on the Earth. Once we use up all our oil, it is gone forever. Corn, however, can be grown again and again. From corn, we can get ethanol, a useful form of energy. This along with other new research on the subject should be used to find the best way to make efficient fuel that can be used in place of or alongside gasoline.

Some people would argue that alternative fuel sources are a bad idea and very impractical because of the cost. They may not be aware of the cost it takes to run an oil dig operation every day. By using less fuel, the amount of drilling would be lessened along with the cost, and it would end up costing about the same as what we are paying now. Some also say that the drilling in the gulf should continue as normal. They believe that even if we stop for one week, we will run out of oil. This is not true; we have some stored and could import it if absolutely necessary. Then there is the complete opposite side that we need to stop off-shore drilling totally. This option is impossible without having some kind of backup source of oil.