America runs on energy, and a big part of that energy comes from oil. But as we all know by now, oil exploration involves risk.
The nation is transfixed by the ongoing oil spill that started April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank, spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.
Attempts to halt the leak continue. But in the meantime, we are horrified to watch plumes of oil drift about in the Gulf, harming wildlife and coming ashore in some places. We lament how the oil is undermining tourism, fishing and other industries along the shore and inland. And we are sorrowful over the 11 workers who died in the tragedy.
Yet we would be in terrible trouble if we did not have oil, as well as coal, nuclear and other energy sources, that our economy needs to keep running every day. There are tradeoffs involved in meeting our energy needs, and one of them is the danger of rare but large oil spills.
It was unreasonable, therefore, when President Barack Obama imposed a six-month ban on deep-water oil exploration in the Gulf in response to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. However serious the BP spill is, such a spill is extremely rare and should not have prompted such a severe response, which threatened many workers’ livelihoods.
A federal judge ruled that the Obama administration’s ban was too broad, and the judge struck down the moratorium. A federal appeals court has now rejected the administration’s request that it reinstate the ban.
Rather than shutting down important oil exploration, the administration should focus on working with BP and government and private-sector experts to get the spill stopped and to protect our waters and coastlines from the oil.