"Everybody doesn't want it in their backyard, they don't want to see or deal with it, but they also want lower prices," said proponent Rhett Bennett who runs oil and gas company Black Mountain Royalty.  He says the practice is not only safe, but out of sight.  Most rigs are stationed at least 30 miles offshore.

"You'll probably never know the difference except the price goes down at the pump," said Bennett. 

It's a move americans are asking for, but one conservationist Dana Beach says won't happen by digging up resources out at sea. 

"One cent, one cent," said Beach.

He believes that's all prices would drop and the change wouldn't be seen for nearly two decades. 

"That is an idiotic course of pursuit.  It's just idiotic," said Beach.

He insists the future lies in a transportation transformation. 

"Its not saying what we do now we're gonna do more of later, only we want more oil to do it," said Beach.

"It's nice theoretically to say oh we can just go off oil tomorrow and have some new no pollution source that's totally renewable.  That's a fantastic goal to have," said Bennett.

Bennett says all solutions are long term, but the time to act is now.

The world consumes about 7 billion barrels a day.  Offshore production could account for about three percent of that.

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