Students will:

• Examine President Obama's proposed policy on offshore oil drilling
• Understand the various positions regarding offshore oil exploration
• Assess the costs and benefits of opening up U.S. coastal areas to offshore exploration
• Participate in a mock-policy committee to develop policies for offshore oil exploring in U.S. waters.

In this lesson, students explore President Barack Obama's policy on offshore oil exploration.  They will examine the costs and benefits of this policy. Then they will role-play interested advocacy groups to develop a public policy for offshore oil exploration.

On March 31, 2010, President Barack Obama announced a plan to open up significant portions of U.S. coastal waters to offshore oil exploration. Separate Executive and Congressional moratoriums had been in place in since 1990. In 2008, President Bush tried to lift the Executive Moratorium, but Congress would not pass key legislation that would enable this action. Since then, gasoline prices have continued to increase. In addition, with the expanding economies of India and China global crude oil supplies are set to decline. New fears of U.S. dependency on foreign oil and the slump in the U.S. economy have caused many to call for lifting the ban on offshore exploration. Public opinion polls show that most Americans favor the idea. With the battle for passing health care over, Congress and the president are looking for ways to work together on important issues. However, a major oil spill off the Louisiana coast greatly complicates the proposal.

Opening Activity
Before class, put up four small signs with the following policy positions in four corners of the classroom.

• Develop clean energy sources. Don't open up offshore drilling. Reduce use of coal and imported oil, no matter what the cost. 
• Develop a comprehensive energy plan that includes expanding use of fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and developing new, clean energy sources.
• Explore and drill only in currently designated areas to avoid further damage to the environment.
• Drill, Baby, Drill! We should be drilling for our own oil instead of buying it from other countres.

After students arrive in class, review each of the four signs with them. Then have them stand in front of the sign that they agree with most. Have them explain their reasons for their position. Record the number of students in standing by each sign and some of their reasons on the front board or overhead. Save this information for later in the lesson and if possible, leave the four signs up on the walls.

Main Lesson, Part 1: Obama's offshore drilling plan and reaction.

Tell students that they will review President Obama's recent announcement to open up new areas for offshore drilling of oil and explore the reasons behind this plan. They will also hear from supporters and critics of this plan. Then they will assume various players in the controversy and hold a policy writing session to deliberate and create a policy for offshore oil exploration.

Divide student into pairs to view the video segments here and here. (Viewing the video news segments and filling out the graphic organizers could be assigned as homework prior to conducting this lesson.)

Distribute the handouts "President Obama's Off-shore Oil Drilling Proposal" and "Obama Eyes Energy Development in Drilling Plan" to students to take notes on the video segment.

After students have filled out the handouts, debrief this activity with the class by discussing the following questions:

1. Why is there a concern about opening up areas for offshore oil exploration and drilling? Why do some proponents of offshore drilling believe President Obama 's proposal is a sound one?
2. Do you think President Obama "flip-flopped" from his statements during the presidential campaign when he recently announced he was opening up offshore drilling? Explain.
3. Why does Interior Secretary Ken Salazar believe this is a sound policy?
4. What are the concerns of Maryland Senator Benjamin Cardin?

 

Divide students into groups of six. Distribute the handout "Issues Surrounding Offshore Oil Drilling." Assign the following roles and give each group some time to meet and discuss their positions. If more time allows, you can have students research these positions in greater detail.

The Positions -

• An advocate for energy independence
• A consumer concerned about the high price of gasoline
• A traditional energy user who feels renewable resources aren't enough and aren't ready
• An anti-oil activist arguing oil companies already have enough leases to increase domestic production
• An environmentalist worried about oil spills
• An renewable energy advocate

Distribute the "Deliberation Procedures" handout to students and review the procedures as well as the stakeholder, negotiations and agreement forms. Answer any questions that may come up.

Have each group proceed through the activity to develop their agreements. If time permits, have each group present their options to the entire class.

Then have students individually complete the agreement form.

 Debrief: Now ask students to think about the opening activity and the policy positions they took on the four propositions. With the four signs in the four corners of the room, ask students to stand near the position they now agree with most. Check with students to see if any changed their positions and their reasons why (or why not.) 

Assessment: Assess student work on the following areas:

• Cooperation and participation in group activities
• Completed graphic organizers
• Individual completion of the Agreement Form
• Students who disagree with the policy group's final agreement could write up a paragraph explaining their disagreement with the policy group and suggest a policy they feel is better.

Have students research more about concerns behind offshore oil exploration and develop information posters advocating different viewpoints. This activity can be extended to having students produce an "energy forum" where students present different policies on energy production. This activity can also be integrated into science classes studying energy production.

Does the recent oil spill off the in the Gulf Coast change your student's perspective on offshore drilling?