• Offshore drilling obtains oil and gas from beneath the ocean floor. The drills attach to a platform on the surface of the water and extend as deep as necessary. Offshore drilling is a controversial source of resources because of the difficulties involved and potential environmental damage.
  
  

Environmental Disadvantages

• Given the chance of oil spills, offshore drilling poses a serious threat to marine ecosystems. In a spill, the toxicity of the oil harms marine animals and their habitat. The threat of oil spills comes from drilling platforms and moving oil tankers. Any location in the path of a tanker faces potential risk. Furthermore, the movement of ocean currents can amplify the scope of such a disaster. Oil has a particularly damaging effect on coastal life as it moves with the tide. In 1989, for example, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound damaged more than 1,000 miles of Alaskan coastline. The damage to marine wildlife populations was vast.
  
  

Environmental Effects of Platforms

• Drilling platforms pose a potential risk to the ocean environment. The platforms can have drastic and adverse effects on marine life below. Platform construction displaces creatures on the ocean floor, and the apparatus itself creates a strange new obstacle in the otherwise natural marine world. Platforms generally create an abnormal fixture in the world of marine creatures, disrupting the ecosystem and potentially attracting non-native species.
  
  

Practical Difficulties and Risks

• Offshore drilling has potential negative effects on human populations. Many risks complicate the logistics and maintenance required to operate a drilling platform. Accidents such as explosions and mechanical failure occasionally occur. In 1980, a drilling platform called the Alexander Kielland collapsed, killing 123 people. Many explosions have also occurred, such as the 2001 explosion of the Petrobas 36 Oil Platform. In an oil spill, the lengthy recovery process is an economic burden. The spills themselves wreak havoc on local and global fishing economies.