photo by dsearls (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
The history of oil drilling and oil spilling in the United States is riddled with disasters, political decisions as reactions to those disasters and then subsequent resumptions of drilling. The US has drilled deeper and further offshore as drilling technology has developed. Unfortunately, cleanup technology has not likewise progressed.
Proper offshore oil drilling in the US began after the Second World War. Previously, ocean drilling was carried out on wharfs, the longest of which stretched 1,200 ft (400 meters) into the Pacific. By 1949 there were 44 exploratory oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. By the 1950s oil production had become a huge generator of wealth for oil companies and the second largest source of government revenue after income taxes.
1969′s Santa Barbara Oil Spill inspired new regulations on drilling, spilling, polluting and other environmental concerns. All the while drilling technology improved by leaps and bounds into the 1980s and the number of wells in the Gulf of Mexico skyrocketed.
From the Oceana website:
Then in 1990, President George H.W. Bush issued an executive moratorium on oil and gas leasing in those same regions, which was extended by President Bill Clinton until 2012. For more than 25 years, U.S. waters were protected, until 2008 when President George W. Bush lifted the executive moratorium. At the same time, fueled by rising gas prices and a challenging election year, cries of “drill baby drill” convinced Congress to allow the moratorium to lapse as well.
As oil companies have developed amazing technology, including advanced robotics, to assist in deeper, more treacherous marine conditions, advances in safety and oil spill cleanup have more or less stayed stagnant.
Check out these segments from the Rachel Maddow Show in which Rachel explores the history of oil spills in US waters, shifting political policies and the widening gap between drilling technology and cleanup technology.
Rachel Maddow: Oil spill science left behind
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Rachel Maddow: B.P., slick but not that slick
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
For more on the history of offshore oil drilling in the United States, see ‘History of Offshore’ from the National Ocean Industries Association.
by Graham Land
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