Some people want the United States to do more offshore drilling. Offshore drilling is “the process of extracting petroleum from reserves located beneath the Earth's oceans instead of reserves located on the mainland” (Donev). This means that there is a huge drill going down under the ocean to bring up oil from the ocean floor. People want to increase the amount of offshore drilling because humans use lots of oil every year. For example, in 2016 the world used “96 million barrels per day — working out to over 35 billion barrels a year” (Donev). This oil goes in cars and planes, heats people’s houses, and makes electricity. You might think that having more oil for these things sounds good, but offshore drilling is a bad way to power our world.

We should stop offshore drilling because it endangers both animals and people. For example, oil is poisonous to animals and plants and destroys their habitats. Sadly, oil spills into the ocean really often. “In U.S. federal waters, at least 6,500 oil spills occurred from 2007 to 2017” (“The Five Truths of Offshore Drilling”). Additionally, human workers on offshore rigs are in danger, because oil catches fire very easily. “On average, from 2007 to 2017, a fire or explosion erupted offshore every three days, and hundreds of workers were injured annually” (“The Five…”). One of the worst explosions and oil spills ever was at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. “This disaster killed 11 rig workers, spilled over 200 million gallons of oil, fouled at least 1,300 miles of Gulf shoreline, endangered public health, and killed tens of thousands of birds, sea turtles, dolphins and fish” (“The Five…”). As a result, many people lost their jobs and the government had to spend a lot of money cleaning up. This is another reason why offshore drilling is bad. An oil spill in Maryland could kill the fish and crabs, and the fishermen would lose their jobs. Offshore drilling is a bad idea for humans and nature.

This is why you should write legislation that makes the country switch from oil to solar energy. Solar energy comes from the sun, so it is sustainable. Also, we can make lots of energy this way. To make enough electricity for the whole country, we would only need solar cells on “around 10 million acres of land — or only 0.4% of the area of the United States” (Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy). Additionally, solar energy could provide lots of jobs for Americans. “About 250,000 people work in the U.S. solar industry these days and there are more than 10,000 solar businesses around the country” (Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy). This is really great because solar energy doesn’t endanger animals or people. Imagine if every roof in Baltimore had solar power cells! The marine animals could be happy and healthy in the bay, and the people could be happy and warm at home. We don’t need more oil to power our world, and we don’t need offshore drilling.

Senator Cardin, I know you love Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay as much as I do. We love eating blue crabs, and we love looking out at clean, sparkly water. So help keep Maryland’s shore healthy by making new legislation to stop offshore drilling and switch us over to solar power. You can save the blue crab for future Maryland kids.

Sincerely,
      Angela Watkins