S02E13 – Should the US government urge corporations to drill for more oil?

In this episode of Finding Common Battle Grounds, we discuss whether the US government should urge corporations to drill for more oil in light of currently very high gas prices. Josh and Ryan agree that pollution is bad! (That was a really tough point of agreement!) They also agreed that drilling for oil is not going to solve the immediate problem since developing oil fields and drilling platforms can take years or decades. They agree that, while green energy can still have some harmful environmental impacts, it is “greener” than fossil fuels and that the ultimate goal of any administration and all of humanity should be to move toward greener energy solutions. We also agree that oil companies are going to do what is in the best interest of their shareholders and that is unlikely to be voluntarily reducing oil prices or drilling for more oil. Finally, we agree that a lot of the agitation for immediately drilling for more oil is political as it is hurting politicians’ (mostly Democrats) polling numbers.