Energy Expert: Offshore Drilling Environmentally Sound

From CNS News, The Institute for Energy Research (IER) says offshore drilling for oil is environmentally sound:

IER's Senior Vice President of Policy Daniel Kish asked about the environmental risk of oil drilling, said, "There's always a risk in any kind of energy development. Windmills kill birds."

Kish also noted that offshore oil drilling is preferable to importing oil supplies in tankers that could leak or spill their contents.

Offshore rigs proved themselves in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Katrina. "We actually moved oil wells rigs out of the Gulf; they were blown out of the Gulf, and yet (there were) no oil spills at all because of the new techniques that have been used ever since the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969," Kish said.

There's risk getting out of bed everyday. But the minimal risks increased offshore drilling would involve are worth it.

I remember when I lived in England looking off the east shore of that country and seeing numerous oil rigs in the North Sea; they were so close you could see them clearly. Yet the Brits aren't afraid to exploit their local oil resources like we've allowed ourselves to become in the United States.

It's time to tell the environmental extremists to go pound sand and get on the road to American energy independence!