NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:

Headlines are screaming about the call for — and threat of — new offshore oil drilling. There has been a Congressional moratorium on new offshore drilling since 1982. And for good reason: offshore oil spills.

But in June this year, President George W. Bush proposed reversing that moratorium. Several bills introduced by Republicans are now pending in Congress. Fortunately, all these bills give states the right to veto drilling within 100 miles of their coastlines.

What started this clamor for new offshore oil was, of course, gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon. Public opinion polls show that the majority of U.S. citizens are in favor of drilling offshore. Even 51% of Californians are now in favor of new drilling, a reversal of previous views. But the question for us is how do the people of Huntington Beach feel about offshore drilling? We’re the ones with the oil rigs offshore, and we’re the ones who would be impacted by visual blight and spills from new drilling.

Let’s play devil’s advocate. We already have offshore oil rigs off our coast. They’re not very scenic, but they’re not that bad either. Lit up at night, they provide visual interest to an otherwise empty night landscape. And rig infrastructures provide anchoring spots for marine invert- ebrates, which in turn provide a food source for fish. There is more marine life around rigs than in the open ocean. So the rigs aren’t all bad.

Sure, we had an oil spill here in 1990, but it wasn’t from those drilling rigs. It occurred when an oil tanker hit its own anchor, apparently because of an uncharted sandbar. And even that spill turned out to be not as bad as feared. The wetlands recovered and we got a nice wildlife care center out of the settlement.

On the other hand, if the spill had drifted into Newport Bay instead of the Huntington Wetlands, it could have wiped out light-footed clapper rails, an endangered species. But since we’re now experiencing the Sixth Great Extinction to hit Earth, species are going extinct right and left anyway. What’s one more?

The most obvious reason why people seem to be changing their attitudes about offshore drilling is the pump price of gasoline. But don’t think new drilling is going to ease the impact on your wallets.

Even if companies begin exploratory drilling now, we wouldn’t see any new oil for a long time. A 2007 Department of Energy report said new drilling wouldn’t significantly impact oil production until 2030. So more offshore oil drilling isn’t a solution for the near term.

No one knows for sure how much oil is lying out there under water. Estimates are that 10 billion to 16 billion barrels of oil lie untapped off the coast of the U.S. So let’s say we drill for it and suck it all out. How long will that keep us going? To answer that, we need to look at how much we use. Last year, according to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. consumed 7.5 billion barrels of oil. New offshore oil would supply us with maybe one or two year’s worth of oil, based on current consumption rates. So it isn’t a solution for the long term either. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that offshore drilling isn’t going to solve our oil problem, any more than drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge will.

Let’s look at how much oil we use. According to the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. produced about 1.8 billion barrels of oil in 2007. That means we consume about four times more than we produce. Oil production in the U.S. peaked in the 1970s. There is no way the U.S. will ever be able to produce as much oil as we use. Our conclusion is the same. Offshore drilling isn’t going to solve our problem.

The answer has to be to get off our dependency on oil, both foreign and domestic. Eventually, it will run out anyway. Oil took millions of years to form, but we’ve burned about half of it up over the past 100 years. And as the world’s population increases, and China and India catch up to us economically, the world will burn it faster and faster. Based on statistics from the Energy Information Administration, the proven oil reserves of the world will last only another 45 years based on current consumption levels.

Oil has given humanity the chance to jump-start the technological revolution and get out of the horse and buggy era. But the days of cheap oil are over, and offshore drilling isn’t going to turn back the clock. What we need are practical, affordable cars that run on practical, affordable and renewable energy. Until those are available, we have a choice. We can conserve oil by such measures as driving less, flying less, buying better mileage automobiles, eating at least some vegetarian meals and buying locally produced food and other items. Or we can drill offshore.

Where do you stand? Do you want more drilling? E-mail hbindependent@latimes.com.

VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They can be reached at vicleipzig@aol.com.