I have no problem with offshore drilling in and of itself.  The rigs off the coast of California don't stop people from rushing to the beaches.

And the process has become way more technically advanced and environmentally sound than when the near-shore drilling disaster took place off the coast of Santa Barbara, bringing in the infamous "black tide."

These days, drilling can be done safely and with low impact.  In California, there are even initiatives to leave some of the underwater portions of the rigs in place after decommissioning, as they've actually proven to be valuable as artificial reefs, creating rare havens for several of the state's highly endangered rockfish.  I believe there are similar "rigs-to-reefs" programs in the Gulf.

I do, however, have a problem with the notion that drilling is going to make us energy independent.  I can't imagine that there's enough oil off our coasts to put even a tiny dent in America's insatiable demand for gasoline.  And, as Joe Biden reiterated to Brian and Lindsey Graham on Meet the Press last Sunday, we wouldn't see a drop of oil from new drilling for another decade or so - it's not going to help us right now.

Moreover, while drilling, in and of itself, may not cause environmental or economic damage, our continued dependence on oil is wrecking this country and then some.  Everyone at this point is familiar with the arguments about the hurt oil puts on us with regard to global warming and foreign relations - I won't reiterate them here.  What oil we have left in this world is also better spent as an ingredient in the products we use every day, from shampoo to plastics, than in our gas tanks.

It seems that the new drilling that's being proposed comes at a time when we should be focusing on changing how we get energy, as Deleware and Texas are proposing to do with wind farms, or New Mexico with solar.  Focusing our attention on drilling is a dead end.  It's not going to do us much good, and it risks diverting attention from energy initiatives that really are much more valuable to us.

The facts are:

1. if we opened our shorelines to drilling we would not see any oil until 2030 - that's 22 years from now.

2. the amount of oil that could be extracted will have minimal effect on the actual price of oil - about 8 cents for every gallon of gasoline.

While the propaganda from oil companies would have us believe that permitting them to drill off our shores will significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it is not backed up by the facts.

The question then becomes: do we want to risk significant oil spills off our coasts for such a minimal gain for our citizens?

I am very disappointed in the lack of investigative efforts in this story.  The presentation appeared to endorse the idea that we have our own oil, which would be available for purchase by American oil processors.  
     The story appeared to ignore that oil companies already own offshore oil and gas leases on 41 million acres, and are not producing on 31 million acres.  It seem greedy to want it all, when they are not using what they already own.  In addition, 45.5 million acres of federal land has been leased for oil and gas development, but 33 million acres are not producing.
    It is interesting to consider that eventhough the oil and gas leases were sold on American lands, there is no requirement to sell that oil to the US.  Alaska's North Slope oil is presently being sold to Japan! Once the oil is pumped, the company has the right to sell to the highest bidder, which in coming years could well be China.
   iI wonder to myself, ss this just another push to sell our natural resources to lower debt?

The problem is not depletion of resources--it is the
environmentalists in this country who have ruined our
economy.  Why are no new refineries built--because it
is next to impossible to do so?  Stop the doomsday view of the world and let us solve the problems.  We know that we can.  Engineers are thwarted on every front(I know because I am one).  Your view on the waterfalls in NY are a good example--if that was done anywhere else we would here how terribly they affect the environment(power usage, disturbing the water, disturbing the fish, ruining the serenity).  If you feel that way, why not restore Manhattan Island itself to the way it was when my ancestor Thomas Powell bought it from the Indians.
We heard the doomsday of overpopulation and should be now stepping on each other.  Global warming is the same hoax--man has NOTHING whatsoever to do with it.
It is a natural phenomenon and whatever man does it is not going to change.  Haven't you learned we cannot control nature--if not, I suggest you stand in front of a lava flow and try to change its direction.

I was turned off by Janet Shamlian's joyous but grossly inappropriate smile throughout her report.  Oil is a finite energy resource, and drilling only a temporary solution -- hardly a report to smile about.

I don't see how the Democrats can get away with their policy of "Not one more barrel of domestic oil, not now, not ever". They've been doing it for 25 years and soon we'll be paying $5 per gallon for gas. It will take another generation for conservation, hydrogen fuel cells, etc. to have a large impact. There will be another China or India economic success story by then using even more oil. Cuba is drilling 45 miles off FL. Drill here, drill now, eventually pay less. Quit making the Saudis rich.

Just announcing the desire to drill stateside for American independence from Saudi Oil will get them worried enough to start pumping fast and furious. Also we need to reinstate the 55 mph national limit. It was one of the few things that worked last time around. (Sorry Sammy)

I am STUNNED that no news program has even mentioned that just last week there was an oil rig, 75 miles off the shore of Nigeria, that was taken over by TERRORISTS.  Hello people.  Shell Netherlands has stopped working with it.  If Al-qaeda can take down the towers, don't you think they could take down an isolated oil rig.  

I don't care how wonderful technology is these days, if they drill off Florida coasts and then there's an attack, that's it for Florida's tourist based economy.
Get real.

All very good points but we are neglecting one word which we have a habit of ignoring until we get in a bind:  moderation. Our current mess was caused by a permissive economy of easy mortgages and zero percent car loans. Yes, we need to drill for more of our own oil.  Good for us if it makes OPEC nervous.  They should be; let them sell their oil to China and India.  For us, we need to get back to basics: public transportation (for those areas where it makes sense) and smaller, fuel efficient vehicles for daily driving.  We've been on a cheap oil jag for decades.  We replaced monstrous sedans and stations wagons in the '70's with "downsized" cars only to have them resurrected as pickups and SUV's.  We can still have our big vehicles but we need to return to some sanity.  Go back to using SUV's as Sport, Utility Vehicles, not daily drivers. Same thing with pickups; unless you need it for your livelihood, leave it home.

I scrimped and saved my whole life for my dream car: the Chevrolet Corvette.  Over the years, the price of Vettes escalated faster than my bank account so I settled for a 3 year old Pontiac GTO (a Holden Monaro from Australia converted to left hand drive for us baby boomers to enjoy).  There is no way that I could drive it to work at today's premium fuel prices at 18 miles per gallon so it stays home for occasional use and I drive the 6 year old Corolla every day.  I look on the bright side:  at this rate, the GTO will last me for the rest of my life.

Why don't you cover all the facts in your stories?  How about the oil blobs that ruin the water from the oil rig?  How many of us are aware of that.  It ruins the water for everything that lives in it, for humans who wish to swim, for the tourist industry not to mention our homes because it is dragged in on our feet.  The destruction we continually do to our planet is endless!!  Will we ever learn?

Please google  Louisiana Environmental Benefits of Offshore Drilling.  You will be intellectually astounded.  The writer is Humberto Fontova who describes the sea life being created literally where none was before due to oil platforms offshore in Louisiana.  Much of the commentary is by locals who work in, around and UNDER these platforms, who know their stuff.  Feds, State of Louisiana are cooperating w/oil companies, fishermen, local enviros, etc.

In one fell swoop, this Revolutionary Info wipes out the reactionary-1970's-enviro-agenda-people who've traded divisively on hate and blame.  Intelligent enviros could immediately see the value of discarding their old "world is flat" prejudices in favor of the Win, Win offshore drilling: significantly, Keeping of Billions of Our Dollars in America; employing thousands of Americans in oil/other development, as we work (10-25 years using much of this money) diligently toward exotic, new energy technologies and their build-out re: our energy independence.

Presently we throw about 360 BILLION American dollars overseas yearly, to many of these criminal regimes.  Even this is not steady, possibly getting worse.  This guarantees the 100% waste of this resource, enriching those who want to kill us.  If offshore drilling alone saves us a mere 100 billion, think of how much employment, R&D and tech build-out that pays for.  The speculators also would be deflated, saving another 30-100 billion dollars of our precious resources needed here for our economy which powers other economies.

Critically, the central argument of the enviro-dem combine is destroyed by Humberto's story, not only on offshore drilling, but on the central character of what environmentalism actually is, it's very definition.  No longer will leftist haters have unfettered control of "Environmentalism".  Enviros can stand for the positive in wild life AND for their fellow Americans, not only for their negative hatred for our American economy and our people.

Ca. Gov't, 17 thousand millions of dollars in debt, may want to think of the billions of dollars it could take from offshore drilling, functionally reversing Ca. Gov's demo tradition of driving productive people/businesses OUT of Ca. at an alarming rate, as pigs have gorged themselves at California's public trough.  Those whining that "it'll take years" are the very ones who have killed all hope to date and created this problem for the rest of us on their alter of purist environmentalism.  They are to blame.  They are the enemy of the American People.

None of Humberto's, my or other commentors words take the slightest importance off of conserving that which we have.  Needless wasting is not what I learned growing up in rural America, the home of the greatest recyclers in our land.

Janet Shamlian is on to something.  I'm glad to see her down there where they've learned so much . . . none of which has been shared by "the media"
Please google  Louisiana Environmental Benefits of Offshore Drilling.  You will be intellectually astounded.  Janet can probably second the writer, Humberto Fontova, who describes the sea life being created literally where none was before due to oil platforms offshore in Louisiana.  Much of the illuminating commentary is by locals who work in, around and UNDER these platforms, who know their stuff.  Feds, State of Louisiana are cooperating w/oil companies, fishermen, local enviros, etc.

In one fell swoop, this Revolutionary Info wipes out the reactionary-1970's-era enviro/agenda-people who slavishly seek us all to look back.  Intelligent enviros could immediately see the value of discarding old "world is flat" enviro-prejudices in favor of the Win, Win offshore drilling: significantly, Keeping of Billions of Our Dollars in America; employing thousands of Americans in oil/other development, as we work (10-25 years using much of this money) diligently toward exotic, new energy technologies and their build-out re: our energy independence.

Presently we throw about 360 BILLION American dollars overseas yearly, to many of these criminal regimes.  Even this is not steady, possibly getting worse.  This guarantees the 100% waste of this resource, enriching those who want to kill us.  If offshore drilling alone saves us a mere 100 billion, think of how much employment, R&D and tech build-out that pays for.  The speculators also would be deflated, saving another 30-100 billion dollars of our precious resources needed here for our economy which powers other economies.

As Janet Shamlian centers in on what she learns down there in Louisiana, she will tell Humberto's story in her own way. Critically, the central argument of the enviro-dem combine is destroyed by the truths that will come out, not only on offshore drilling, but on the central character of what environmentalism actually is, it's very definition.  No longer will leftist haters have unfettered control of "Environmentalism".  Enviros CAN stand for the positive in wild life AND for their fellow Americans, and not simply be harnessed to old negative hatred for our American economy and our people.

Ca. Gov't (17 thousands of millions of dollars in debt) may want to think of the billions of dollars it could take from offshore drilling; functionally reversing Ca. Gov's demo tradition of driving productive people/businesses OUT of Cal at an alarming rate, as pigs have openly gorged themselves at California's public trough.  Those whining that "it'll take years" are the very ones who have killed all hope to date and exaserbated this problem for the rest of us on their alter of purist enviro theology.  They are to blame.  They are the enemy of the American People.

None of Janet's, Humberto's, my or other commentors words take the slightest importance off of conserving everything we have.  Needless wasting is not what I learned growing up in rural America, home of the greatest recyclers in our land.

In spite of the obvious intelligence of some/many of the commentors herein, I can see that the NBC people controlling this blog are not interested in allowing information from other persuasions or other sources which add to the depth and fabric of the "discussion" they purport to be engendering by means of these blogs.  If these blogs are meant to just be one-sided using only/mainly agreement-speech therein, why not just admit it?

I do apologize.  After many hours, I had thought my/other peoples' comments were censored, as I've seen on other venues.  Maybe it was the day/night part of your logo that caused me to think the moderators were on duty all the time.  My apologies for thinking less than the best.

Drilling has no drawbacks.
1. We need the oil period our economy is based on it, we can not change overnight to a green based power supply. Yes! we need to change our ways and fast BUT it take time to develop test and make affordable PV panels then install them in masive arrays, tie them into a grid......More jobs
2. In order to make #1 happen we need oil.
3. Oil drilling and the new technoligy to drill deeper with safeguards to prevent spills takes a skilled and talented workforce....More Jobs!

Bottom line.... Drill = More jobs and a better life for all of us that want to work, and for the lazy....more tax money to keep them in beer, cable TV, and sleveless undershirts

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