system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How Dangerous is Oil Drilling today?

Using 50 years and 100 years as reference, how detrimental is oil drilling and refinement to both human populations and the eco-system today? Does it only directly impact the immediate area of drilling or does it have wider consequences? Is it, by today's standards, "safe"?
gpt
Onshore and offshore drilling can be safe and have a very small impact on the environment *if done correctly*. The process of drilling itself is not very obtrusive at all, minus the rig itself and the transport to get to and from the rig. It's what you find under the Earth and when it comes to the surface is what you need to worry about.

 Oil spills are horrifying, and people are always very upset when they happen, for a good reason. But if we understand that the conditions we have to drill in now days is because everyone wants to drive their car to the mailbox. 

Fracking. There's a loaded word when it comes to drilling. The documentaries that portray that people can light their tap water (from a water well) on fire can be accurate, but we have to realize that the reason that the companies are drilling there is *because there's a lot of natural gas* in that area. So, if you drill your own well, chances are you're going to get some contamination. 

Most of the fracking fluid is also recovered, and it is 99% water to begin with. There can be problems in the evaporation ponds with the linings, but that is usually fairly rare too. 

In short: Drilling is not a very bad process if done properly, and drilling done by a responsible company will leave things better than when they came in.