Pros And Cons Of Offshore Oil Drilling

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Offshore oil drilling has always been a notorious subject of debate due to the positive growth it can bring to a country’s economy and simultaneously bring detrimental effects in a marine environment. The largest issue regarding crude oil pumping offshore is the high risk of tremendous damage to marine ecosystems and depleting resource, additionally many modern economies count on crude oil as an effective power source and its growth in the financial market. Historically offshore drilling has had its share of enormous oil spills into many bodies of water such at the Lakewood Gusher spill, the Gulf War Oil Spill, Odyssey Oil Spill and unfortunately many more(Cooper,1992). These date as far back 1967 when Scilly Islands was documented as the first As a result many marine animals are at an increased risk of health issues from fatal compounds once they are absorbed a plethora of health issues arise such as ulcers, liver failure, kidney failure, increased infertility among species, and brain damage (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administraion,2010).Another essential point is that oil rig accidents which occur on open water are much harder to clean up that oil spills on land since the material is spread along coastlines and coral reefs much farther by traveling atop the water thus taking longer for cleanup(Cooper,1992). Subsequently marine wildlife continues to ingest and absorb the crude oil which ultimately take a toll on their bodily functions (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2010). Moreover, countries with a diverse marine ecosystem such as the country of Belize rely on tourism and fishing to generate much of their economy, an oil spill would mean that locals would have to find different sources of food since the fish will be contaminated and the tourist industry will take a huge hit which will take many years for it return to normal statistic and still not return to its original state (Cisneros-Montemayer, Kirkwood, Harper, Zeller, and Sumalia, 2013). It can be seen that oil extraction initially has a high amount of economical outcome, but it’s value decreases exponentially, yet tourism continues to boast a steady number of US$183 Million every year due to a wide range of environment tourism (Cisneros-Montemajor et al,

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