To Drill or Not To Drill
Hum/111
1/25/13
Angela Funk

To Drill or Not To Drill

As the population in the United States increases, so is the need to keep up with the energy demand. Developing new energy sources such as solar, wind, clean coal, natural gas and nuclear power the US can become less dependent on foreign countries. Although off shore drilling is a good resource that has been in existence for years, with the recent oil explosion (2010) and 11 lives and a massive spill of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, that had a major affect on the economy and the wildlife caused the US to take a look at alternative resources for energy. The option of alternative resources allows the US to be more self- sufficient and could overall be less cost effective for the US.
The perceptual blocks that I am experiencing with these assignments is the various pros and cons that come with both off-shores drilling & using alternative resources. Off –shore drilling already in place and with the drilling moratorium expanding into the Mediterranean and off the coast of East Africa after a hug discovery of natural gas. However “Exploration in deepwater fields remains dangerous because of high temperatures and high pressure when drilling 6,000 feet or more under the sea floor”. (Krauss & Broder, 2012). On the other hand with alternative resources we would no longer have to rely on other countries to supply our energy because it would be created here in the US. Research and testing does take a while before full production would take place.

To Drill or Not To Drill
President Obama indicated that ‘with more research and incentives we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015” (Husain, 2011, p.). We have seen in recent years the production of the electric cars but the American consumers