IS IT HIM? - Tam Doan

13 August 2014

President Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington D.C

Dear Mr. President:

    My name is Tam Doan, I am a 14-year-old high school student enrolling in Pacifica High School.  As you may know, oil is a very important resource used all around the world, but while it can bring precious benefits to our society, it can also bring harm and damage to our environment.  Though it seems that many gas companies are ignoring the consequences of which offshore drilling and will continue to drill the Artic Ocean for more oil, but I disagree with their actions. Even though some normal citizens can argue offshore drilling has benefits, but through my eyes, I see the consequence out weighs the benefits, ultimately doing more harm then good. Instead of hoping that the situation resolves itself, I will take action and try to change     others people’s perspective of this problem.

One impact Oil drilling has on the environment is that it is destroying one of natures most useful resources, trees (epa.gov). As the temperature slowly rises, permafrost thaws, and when permafrost thaws, the soil in the forest system becomes soften, in which causes the trees to sink into the ground. Because of this, many trees in Alaska seems to have a leaning appearance. These trees are known as “drunken tree”. “Drunken trees” later will die because of their leaning positions (.wikipedia.org). Another problem a change in climate can effects the trees is that there will be more disturbance for the forest, such as wild fires and insect outbreak (epa.gov).

    Another reason why off- drilling is dangerous is that it can even affect the community and the land of Alaska (livescience.com). As polar bears and other animal make their ways across the lands to a special area to give birth, but by occupying these spaces for oil, animal will eventually go near them, which then causes them to be expose to PAH. Since the animal has a poor immune system, PAH will give them cancer. Dangerous consequences like this can cause the animal’s population to slowly disappear and eventually lead to extinction. For the people in Alaska, many of the communities depend on fishing, but offshore drilling is destroying the marine inhabitants in the area, which can damage and ruin the community.

    So in summary, not only offshore drilling can perinatal damage the precious environment, but also it can also hurt the environment’s marine inhabitants. Offshore drilling will also cause harm to the local communities that relies on fishes to make their living. Because of all this, I strongly believe that offshore drilling should be stopped. Not only many people agree with my decisions, but they also believe that this is the right choice not only for the citizen, but also for the world. Thank you for reading this.

Sincerely,
Tam Doan