Opinion

America must ban offshore drilling

Posted July 11, 2010 11:00 pm

Growing up in Alaska, I was a firsthand witness to the massive effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on, not only the immense amounts of wildlife and biodiversity inhabiting Prudhoe Bay, but also the economic travesties impacting the people of the region.

Now the world is facing an oil spill proving to be much larger and devastating than the Exxon Valdez spill. The BP oil spill in the Gulf will have exponentially greater effects as the spill is estimated to be more than 10 million gallons of oil already, and rising. This spill is, and will continue to be exceedingly damaging to the Gulf Coast wildlife as well as the commercial and recreational fishing industries in the Gulf States.

Due to the inability of adequate responses that I have witnessed from the Exxon-Valdez oil spill and now the BP gulf oil spill, it is necessary for us to protect our coasts from this type of disaster from ever happening again. In order to accomplish this I urge President Obama to ban offshore drilling in new areas and lead the charge for a clean energy economy.

Meghan Cavanaugh

Evanston

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