To the editor:

Two years ago today, a drilling rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana and spewed 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days.

Coastal economies collapsed, thousands lost their jobs and countless marine life died.

Currently, cleanup has coast more than $40 million and is continuing today.

BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill was a shocking catastrophe. But despite the abundant costs and obvious destructive nature of offshore drilling, oil companies are calling for more.

Expanding offshore drilling will not achieve energy independence and will not decrease gas prices. Even at full production, new offshore drilling would only decrease oil prices by a mere 3 pennies per gallon.

In order to achieve energy security and create jobs, our country must expand renewable energy sources.

It is time for our country to invest in a resource that is infinite, renewable and sustainable. Investing in offshore wind and other renewable energy sources will create jobs and move us toward a clean energy future.

Renewable energy can end the United States’ addiction to oil and will not put our coastal communities at risk of another spill.

Helen H. Head,
Cincinnati, Ohio

Helen Head is a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.

[email protected]