Should the U.S. Allow Offshore Oil Drilling?

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My primary issue with this argument is that it overstates the impact on fisheries and proposes no real alternative. A larger threat to the Gulf Coast fishing industry is the expanding dead zones (due to hypoxia) in the Gulf of Mexico.  Notably, this is NOT caused by the oil industry.  Rather, it is a by-product of the use of fertilizers in the Mississippi watershed.  There are numerous resources documenting this phenomenon.  One of the renewables that many place their hopes in is ethanol, but this is only threatens to exacerbate the problem.  It also affects our precious food supply. 

Certainly, oil spills are not desirable, but the record demonstrates that far more oil results in our oceans from tanker spills and natural seeps.  The efforts of oversight agencies like the MMS have been very effective at ensuring the offshore industry has been among the safest industries in the US.  Moreover, profit motive dictates that the industry has no incentive to spill the oil it drills. This is a cost that is borne due to foregone profits. So, yes, capitalism actually plays a desirable role here.

If energy security is the goal, a balance must be struck between all available options.  This balance includes greater access to domestic resources that technologies already deployed in current capital stocks already use.