Despite the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, more than three-fourths of Easley Progress readers responding to last week’s online Progress Poll said they are in favored of continued off-shore drilling in the United States.

“The oil spill simply means that companies need to be more careful when they drill, not that drilling should be banned entirely.” one voter wrote. “The possible reduction of dependence on foreign oil is too important to let one incident discourage us.”

Another voter questioned which would cost America more — drilling or not drilling?

“People keep bringing up the potential environmental cost of off shore drilling,” the reader wrote. “But they don’t think about the price we are already paying to keep our supplies from foreign sources coming — the lives of our brave young soldiers who are fighting wars based mostly on our need for cheap oil.”

Another reader said that off-shore drilling could provide a bridge between dependence on foreign oil and the production of alternative energy sources.

“The Obama administration wants the United States to quit using oil entirely,” the reader wrote. “That’s a nice thought, but the technology isn’t there — yet. By carefully drilling off-shore domestically, we can buy time for new technology to make other sources of energy affordable and available.”

On the opposing side, one reader felt that Americans will feel different once they realize the economic cost of the oil spill.

“Once people realize just how much this spill has cost us, including the many fishermen whose livelihood has been destroyed, they will not want any part of off-shore drilling,” the reader wrote.