As expected, Democrats and environmentalists are up in arms over President Donald Trump's recent executive order to expand offshore oil and gas drilling.
The governors of Washington, Oregon and California fear offshore drilling will lead to spills and hurt their fishing industries. But Phil Flynn, an oil analyst at The PRICE Futures Group, says lifting the Obama ban will pay off in spades.
“It's going to create a lot of high-paying jobs in a world where high-paying jobs are becoming harder and harder to find,” he says.
Russia and others are already drilling the Pacific and Arctic oceans.
“We don't want to get into a situation where we underinvest in the energy industry and don't allow the energy companies to do their job and find out a few years from now that we're short on supplies,” says Flynn.
California Democrat Dianne Feinstein vows to fight this every step of the way.
“If you look at the big picture there are a lot of energy companies that produce oil every day, offshore, onshore, safely, they give a big boost to the economy and globally you can't underestimate the improvement of the quality of life to the average person,” says Flynn.