Restricting Drilling Offshore and in ANWR May Actually Increase Global Warming

Offshore Oil Drilling Ship

It seems so simple. If you just stop drilling, you can reduce global warming. But, that may not be the result. We have to consider the effects of policy in the context of a world economy. Restricting drilling will reduce supply, which should raise prices for oil. This may cause alternative sources of oil, such as additional Canadian Tar Sands to be developed. If tar sand oil is substituted for high grade sweet oil from ANWR for example, then carbon dioxide emissions go up. Extracting oil from tar sands consumes a lot of energy and releases a lot of carbon dioxide, much more than drilling wells at ANWR.

If energy prices are increased in this country, it may drive production of goods off-shore to countries like China that are almost 4 times less energy efficient in the release of carbon dioxide than we are in the United States. Any policy that moves production from the US to China hurts our job market, damages our economy, and increases global warming.

It will take decades to replace our current energy infrastructure with clean, renewable energy technology. We should be producing energy from our cleanest fossil fuel resources to give us the time to develop this clean infrastructure. It would make more sense to restrict the development of energy sources like coal and oil shale that release a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide compared to traditional oil development. Natural gas has half the carbon content for the same amount of energy as coal.

Instead of restricting drilling, we should focus on incentives to develop more carbon efficient vehicles and alternative energy resources.