Offshore oil drilling brings constant problems

The oft-used quote, sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein, goes, “Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly, while each time expecting a different outcome.”

Oil drilling off the coast of California produced massive spills resulting in disasters all along the shore. Drilling is now banned off California's coast but producing wells continue to seep oil into the coastal waters, resulting in tar balls on the beaches and oil slicks on the water.

Unsightly oil platforms still mar the ocean views along with oil tankers lined up to fill their holds from filling platforms. Poorly maintained oil pipelines along the coast continue to rupture, spilling their contents into the ocean. Refineries along the coast pollute the air, the land, and the waters around them. And California is not reaping huge financial gain from all of this activity.

The Gulf of Mexico experiences constant oil spills and disasters. The oil jobs promised by the American Petroleum Institute have been evaporating due to the worldwide glut of crude oil. The untold riches promised the Gulf States have never materialized, and in fact, the poverty rate in the states bordering offshore drilling has increased in the past ten years.

Now the oil companies want the Atlantic Coast opened to offshore drilling. Our politicians and local proponents of offshore drilling are dancing a gleeful jig anticipating the great wealth and thousands of jobs that this is supposed to bring to our state. “Drilling offshore can be safe if it is done right,” they say over and over again.

And when the disasters begin, when the tourist industry is decimated, when our coastal property values tank, and when it finally sinks in that the wealth promised to the state by the oil companies is not forthcoming, Gov. Nikki Haley, U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, state Rep. Stephen Goldfinch, and all of the other proponents of offshore drilling can plead “insanity” for trying to promote oil drilling off our coast while expecting a different outcome than that experienced by the rest of the country.

The writer lives in North Litchfield Beach.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Offshore oil drilling brings constant problems."