Friday marked two years ago since the blowout of a BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico that spawned the nation's worst offshore oil spill. But based on the views of those who spoke to NewsChannel 15 about it, the environmental disaster appears to have had little effect on people's opinions about offshore drilling, including off the coast of the Grand Strand.
The numbers from the blowout are staggering: 206 million gallons of oil spilled, 665 miles of coastline contaminated and more than 6,000 birds dead.
Despite that, most Grand Strand visitors who talked to NewsChannel 15 about offshore drilling say they still support it.
"We need oil to make this world go around. We have plenty of oil here. We don't need to be buying it from other countries," said Derek Roberts of Tupelo, Mississippi.
"That's a lot of jobs that people are needing right now and there's a lot of oil field workers out there that are just lost without jobs," added Joyce Whitt of Spartanburg.
Some people said they are concerned about the environmental risks and know the world's oil supply will run out someday, but for now, the nation needs to keep drilling.
"It's a temporary solution," said John Devito of Orange City, Florida. "In the meantime, we need to work on all the alternatives."
One of those alternatives could be natural gas and the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce said it supports natural gas drilling offshore.
As for oil, chamber president Brad Dean said in an email to NewsChannel 15, "We are supportive of offshore drilling for oil, if kept a sufficient distance off the coast and appropriate precautionary measures are put in place."
Some visitors said they wouldn't mind seeing oil rigs off the Grand Strand coast.
"Wouldn't bother me any. It'd look like a nice piece of equipment out there," said Leonard Brown of Greenville.
At the same time, some Grand Strand residents say the huge spill in the Gulf gives them second thoughts.
"This is our home. And this is home to a lot of sea life and to take that risk I think would make me think about it again," said Alana Stankwitch of Myrtle Beach.
After the BP spill, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said he supported safely expanding offshore drilling.
He said it makes sense to find out what happened in the Gulf and enact safety measures to make sure it doesn't happen again.
BP has said it will pay nearly $8 billion to settle a class action lawsuit related to the spill.
