When I say we're running out of oil, I mean we're running out of cheap, easily accessible oil. We'll have oil for quite some time; it will just get more expensi

When I say we're running out of oil, I mean we're running out of cheap, easily accessible oil. We'll have oil for quite some time; it will just get more expensive. Maybe I'm wrong and the peak of global oil supply is still a ways off. In that case, we'll have made a less painful transition than we would have otherwise. The longer we continue to use energy as we currently do, the more infrastructure will be built based on that consumption, and the more new infrastructure we will need to build in the future to accommodate lower energy use. "When we get into "potential environmental damages", unless you're prepared to make a risk-reward argument with hard statistics we're treading on personal opinion ground." It is personal opinion. I don't see the problem with that. I like my shorelines sans oil spills. I don't think the risk is worth a couple of cents a gallon off of gas. Any quantification of the risks and rewards of offshore drilling will be equally subjective as my assertion that it isn't worth it. If the rest of the country agrees (which looks unlikely at this point), then more offshore drilling won't happen. "doesn't the market provide the most goods at the lowest prices, thereby helping the poor much more optimally than a government policy would?" Yes. Cheap energy for the poor would be nice, but the decrease in price of energy caused by offshore drilling isn't worth the potential environmental damage in my opinion. "But you're talking about potentially billons of people who will have a harder time reaching their potential for decades while we re-tool." It sounds like you're talking about more than just offshore drilling here, as that would have a tiny effect on people reaching their potential. As far as broader governmental efforts that will raise the price of oil, I don't think we should go any further than pricing in the externalities of oil usage. Paying for the damage you cause isn't that radical of a notion.