Still Drill, Baby, Still Drill
Nicolas Loris /
The 2009 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is wrapping up in Houston, Texas and unsurprisingly, the message down here remains: drill, baby, drill. But that message has been echoed by panelists from both sides of the aisle. Despite reinstatement of the bans on offshore drilling and no mention of offshore drilling in the Waxman-Markey energy bill, $4-a-gallon gas still lingers in the back of peoples’ minds. One panelist at OTC said parents kids remind their parents constantly about the vacation they had to cancel. High gas prices ate away at consumers’ disposable income and that frustration, despite a considerable amount of time passing since gas prices have been exorbitantly high, is still very fresh.
Eliminating bans on offshore drilling has tremendous potential with little risk involved. Considerable improvements in technology have considerably reduced the probability of a spill and minimized the carbon footprint. And the technology continues to get better.