The Environmental Benefits of Offshore Drilling
Louisiana produces almost 30 per cent of America's commercial fisheries. Only Alaska (ten times the size of the Bayou state) produces slightly more. So obviously, Louisiana's coastal waters are immensely rich and prolific in seafood.These same coastal waters contain 3,200 of the roughly 3,700 offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. From these, Louisiana also produces 25 per cent of America's domestic oil, and no major oil spill has ever soiled its coast. So for those interested in evidence over hysterics, by simply looking bayou-ward, a lesson in the “environmental perils” of offshore oil drilling presents itself very clearly.Fashionable Florida, on the other hand, which zealously prohibits offshore oil drilling, had its gorgeous "Emerald Coast" panhandle beaches soiled by an ugly oil spill in 1976. This spill, as almost all oil spills, resulted from the transportation of oil – not from the extraction of oil. Assuming such as Hugo Chavez deign to keep selling us oil, we'll need increasingly more and we'll need to keep transporting it stateside – typically to refineries in Louisiana and Texas.This path takes those tankers (as the one in 1976) smack in front of Florida's panhandle beaches. Recall the Valdez, the Cadiz, the Argo Merchant. These were all tanker spills. The production of oil is relatively clean and safe. Again, it's the transportation that presents the greatest risk. And even these spills (though hyped hysterically as environmental catastrophes) always play out as minor blips, those pictures of oil-soaked seagulls notwithstanding. To the horror and anguish of professional greenies, Alaska's Prince William Sound recovered completely. More birds get fried by landing on power lines and smashed to pulp against picture windows in one week than perished from three decades of oil spills.For fear of oil spills, as of 2008, the U.S. Federal government and various states ban drilling in thousands upon thousands of square miles off the U.S. Coast. These areas, primarily on the Outer Continental Shelf, hold an estimated 115 billion barrels of oil and 633 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This leaves America 's energy needs increasingly at the mercy of foreign autocrats, despots and maniacs. All the while worldwide demand for oil ratchets ever and ever upward."Environmentalists" wake up in the middle of the night sweating and whimpering about offshore oil platforms only because they've never seen what's under them. This proliferation of marine life around the platforms turned on its head every "environmental expert" opinion of its day.The original plan, mandated by federal environmental "experts" back in the late '40s, was to remove the big, ugly, polluting, environmentally hazardous contraptions as soon as they stopped producing. Fine, said the oil companies.About 15 years ago some wells played out off Louisiana and the oil companies tried to comply. Their ears are still ringing from the clamor fishermen put up. Turns out those platforms are going nowhere, and by popular demand of those with a bigger stake in the marine environment than any "environmentalist."Every "environmental" superstition against these structures was turned on its head. Marine life had EXPLODED around these huge artificial reefs: A study by LSU's Sea Grant college shows that 85 percent of Louisiana fishing trips involve fishing around these platforms. The same study shows 50 times more marine life around an oil production platform than in the surrounding Gulf bottoms.An environmental study (by apparently honest scientists) revealed that urban runoff and treated sewage dump 12 times the amount of petroleum into the Gulf than those thousands of oil production platforms. And oil seeping naturally through the ocean floor into the Gulf, where it dissipates over time, accounts for 7 times the amount spilled by rigs and pipelines in any given year.The Flower Garden coral reefs lie off the Louisiana-Texas border. Unlike any of the Florida Keys reefs, they're surrounded by dozens of offshore oil platforms.These have been pumping away for the past 50 years. Yet according to G.P. Schmahl, a Federal biologist who worked for decades in both places, "The Flower Gardens are much healthier, more pristine than anything in the Florida Keys. It was a surprise to me," he admits. "And I think it's a surprise to most people.""A key measure of the health of a reef is the amount of area taken up by coral," according to a report by Steve Gittings, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's science coordinator for marine sanctuaries. "Louisiana's Flower Garden boasts nearly 50 percent coral cover. In the Florida Keys it can run as little as 5 percent."Mark Ferrulo, a Florida "environmental activist" uses the very example of Louisiana for his anti-offshore drilling campaign, calling Louisiana's coast "the nation's toilet."Florida's fishing fleet must love fishing in toilets, and her restaurants serving what's in them. Most of the red snapper you eat in Florida restaurants are caught around Louisiana's oil platforms. We see the Florida-registered boats tied up to them constantly. Sometimes us locals can barely squeeze in.In 1986 Louisiana started the Rigs to Reef program, a cooperative effort by oil companies, the feds and the state. This program literally pays the oil companies to keep the platforms in the Gulf. Now some platforms are simply cut off at the bottom and toppled over as artificial reefs; over 60 have been toppled thus far.A few years back, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries officials were invited to Australia to help them with a similar program. Think about it: here's Australia, the nation with the Great Barrier Reef, the world's biggest natural reef, the world's top dive destination – they're asking help from “the nation's toilet” about developing exciting dive sites by using the very structures that epitomize (in greenie eyes) environmental disaster.America desperately needs more domestic oil. In the process of producing it, we'd also get dynamite fishing, dynamite diving, and a cheaper tab for broiled red snapper with shrimp topping.

The Petroleum Industry
Jobs in the petroleum industry are fun and exciting because they provide people with a chance to "do geology" in a high-technology, high-data environment that isn't found in most other geoscience professional jobs. Even better, many petroleum companies provide generous salary and benefits packages that include annual bonuses, flexible work schedules and company-sponsored training. Petroleum geoscientists gather, process, and analyze seismic data and well data in order to locate drillsites for their companies. During a typical career, people learn to locate three different types of drillsites: exploration drillsites (big scale/high risk), field-development drillsites (medium scale/medium risk) and producing-field drillsites (small scale/lowest risk). Most petroleum industry jobs are based in major cities like Houston and Denver and require some domestic and foreign travel as part of the job assignment.

To get a job with a medium-to-large company you will need a bachelor's degree in geology or geologic engineering from a university that teaches the fundamental principles of geology and a master's degree with a specialty in structural geology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, or geophysics/seismology. Research geoscientists, paleontologists, and geochemistry specialists are also employed but in fewer numbers.

The number of petroleum-industry jobs often fluctuates with the price of a barrel of oil. When oil prices are high, employment opportunities are generally stable or expanding, and when oil prices are low, the industry usually undergoes layoffs. Dealing with the stress of this boom-or-bust employment cycle is the toughest part of choosing a petroleum-industry career.

No matter how you view the ups and downs of the oil business, the employment outlook for new graduates appears to be bright for the foreseeable future. Many companies plan to grow slowly regardless of the price of oil, and they have strategies that include hiring new talent into their maturing workforces. Because statistics show that not enough geoscientists were hired during the 1990s to replace all the employees who will soon begin to retire, it seems likely that the industry's recruiting targets will be stable and might even increase over the next five to 10 years as companies seek to replace retirees. As hiring proceeds in the future, companies will likely prefer students who are globally mobile and willing to work in international locations. Companies will preferentially seek out students with advanced degrees, broad-based training in the fundamental principles of geology, and complementary teamwork and commercial skills developed through summer internships.

Job openings are also currently available for people with three to 15 years of professional experience. These openings occur because many smaller companies are willing to pay a premium in salary and bonuses to people trained by larger companies. Job hopping has always been a part of the petroleum landscape and is likely to remain so into the future.

In summary, the petroleum industry provides well-paid, fun jobs for people who are willing to acquire a master's degree in geoscience. Although it is more enjoyable to be a part of the industry when oil prices are stable and high, geoscience jobs are vital to the industry even when prices are low. Jobs are currently available both for new graduates and experienced professionals, and recruiting is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.