Despite spill, poll shows most Americans back offshore drilling

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Ray Tyson - Offshore Source
We would all agree that a disaster of Biblical proportions was in the making offshore Louisiana on April 20 -- both aboard and far below Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible drilling rig. Tragically, a massive explosion and fire, for reasons still under investigation, killed 11 workers and injured 17, 3 critically. The rig eventually sank in 5,000 feet of water as the exploration well drilled by the Horizon continued to spew copious amounts of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico.
All we really know a month after the disaster is that a crucial safety device called a Blowout Preventer or BOP somehow failed. There seems to be little doubt about this, at least from the viewpoint of the field operator, BP.
In response to a single unfortunate accident resulting in the death of 11 rig workers and a massive oil leak offshore Louisiana, President Obama canceled offshore lease sales planned for the Western Gulf of Mexico and off Virginia, suspended offshore drilling in the Arctic, and imposed a six-month moratorium on drilling exploratory and development wells in waters deeper than 500 feet.
 Before Obama considers doling out more punishment on the U.S. oil and gas industry, he should take note of a poll released in mid-June showing by far that most Americans continue to support offshore drilling and believe it to be critical to making the United States competitive, despite a growing oil slick along the Gulf coast, caused by an explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that ruptured an exploration well. 
 
In a national survey of 522 adults, on a scale of 0 to 10, the average showed support was 6.3 when asked if the government should allow offshore drilling, according to the poll conducted by the market research company TRC. Not surprising, the response was higher among Republicans, 7.8, compared to 5.4 for Democrats. Zero indicated complete disagreement and 10 reflected complete agreement.
The average response was 6.7 when those surveyed were asked if offshore drilling was critical for America to maintain its competitiveness. Republicans again agreed more with a response of 8.2 than Democrats who averaged 5.8. Frankly, I was surprised by Democrats’ strong support for offshore drilling.
Interestingly, a Rasmussen poll conducted roughly two years ago showed that by a similar margin (67%) voters surveyed prior to the 2008 presidential election supported offshore drilling. Only 18% disagreed and 15% were undecided. Conservative and moderate voters strongly support the approach, while liberals were more evenly divided (46% of liberals favored drilling, 37% opposed).
Obama should also take note that Americans  are more concerned about the weak economy and high unemployment than the Gulf oil leak, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup poll, also released in mid-June. The poll of 1,014 adults found 28% saying the economy was the biggest problem, while 21% cited jobs. Only 18% of Americans surveyed listed natural disaster recovery as the most important problem facing the country.
We cite the USA TODAY/Gallup poll results only to highlight the expected impact a six-month moratorium on offshore drilling will have on the U.S. Gulf economy, which is detailed in our lead story on page 1. 
“Since the Gulf region depends on the offshore industry for thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue, the impacts of the ‘one size fits all’ moratorium will add further job loss and economic woes to a region already suffering from these same hits to its seafood and tourism industries,” cautions the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA).
 Fearing that the blanket drilling moratorium “could exacerbate, rather than alleviate, the impacts of this spill upon both our economy and our environment,” U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana sent a letter to Obama requesting that the blanket moratorium on drilling be lifted.
“The immediate impacts to the economy are devastating enough,” Landrieu wrote, noting that idling the 33 rigs currently permitted to drill in the deepwater Gulf alone would immediately impact employment for roughly 38,000 crewmen, deck hands, engineers, welders, ROV operators, caterers, helicopter pilots, and others who operate and service these vessels. “That’s like closing 12 large motor vehicle assembly plants in one state, all at once,” she said in her letter.
However, the real horror story will play out after the moratorium is lifted, when industry learns that many of the 33 deepwater rigs idled by Obama are on long-term contracts elsewhere in the world and not likely to return to the Gulf anytime soon, especially when considering the political risk of doing business in the United States. We urge President Obama to immediately lift the drilling moratorium and treat the Deepwater Horizon tragedy as it should—an     isolated incident and not a one size fits all.