Will the BP Oil Spill Kill Offshore Drilling?

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BP Wellsite leader George Walker (L) meets with CEO of BP Tony Hayward aboard the Discover Enterprise drill ship during recovery operations in the Gulf of Mexico 55, miles south of Venice, Louisiana.

In 1979, an accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant caused a serious and lasting impact on the nuclear power industry. Over 30 years later, some believe the recent BP oil spill will have an equally negative impact on the offshore oil industry. This leads to today's Kudlow Caucus question:

Will the BP oil spill kill the offshore drilling industry as Three Mile Island did for the nuclear power industry?

Take our poll below and tell us what you think! Watch "The Kudlow Report" tonight at 7pm ET and find out what out caucus members have to say or check back here later for a summary from our caucus members.



The Kudlow Caucus Breakdown

Yes Jerry BowyerChief Economist, Benchmark Financial Network If you mean the deep water drilling industry. The disaster may actually, when we get a new president and congress, lead to the liberalization of shallow water drilling and on-shore drilling, which are much safer. NIMBY enviros pushed drills off land and into the deep sea where the danger is greatest. This is their disaster more than anyone else's.

No Kellyanne ConwayCEO and President the polling company™ Domestic drilling may be delayed but not denied, given Americans' dependence on oil. No David P. GoldmanSenior Editor First Things No, because the environmental movement hosted inside the Democratic party will not humiliate a sitting Democratic President by making it a core political issue and the Republicans will not abandon offshore drilling. No David GoodfriendLawyer Three Mile Island didn't kill nuclear power in this country, it changed the way people feel about licensing new plants and that will be the same effect BP has on licensing new offshore wells. "Drill, baby, drill" is dead, baby, dead. Yes Jim LaCampPortfolio Manager, Portfolio Focus, RBC Wealth Management Co-Host, Opening Bell Radio Show, Biz Radio Network But not for as long. I expect that the regulations for new drilling will skyrocket. But we are far more dependant on oil than we are for nukes so this should last only for a few years, not for decades like we had with three mile island. Yes Art LafferFmr. Reagan Economic Advisor Chief Investment Officer, Laffer Investments No Donald L. Luskin Chief Investment Officer, Trend Macrolytics LLC It won’t kill it. Thankfully Obama is on record a couple months ago as supporting it, so he can’t shut it down. But this is the excuse to regulate the bejeezus out of it, and tax it -- and punish it. We’re in the post-Spitzer age in which legitimate business errors are crimes. After all, it can’t be the regulators’ fault. Must be those capitalist crooks. Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Yes Steve MooreSr. Economics Writer, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Yes, at least for the next 2 or 3 years. Even Republicans on Capitol Hill are in the fetal position on drilling right now. No more drill baby drill. Yes Peter Navarro Business Professor University of California, Irvine The failure to cap the spill quickly has sealed that deal. No James Pethokoukis Money & Politics Columnist Reuters Three Mile Island happened just at a point when energy prices were about to collapse. That is not the case today, so the need for cheap energy means we will continue to drill. But there will be far more regulations and oversight, raising the cost of petroleum-derived energy. And while cap-and-trade is dead for this year, expect a push for a carbon tax as an alternative. No Robert Reich Former Labor Secretary Professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley No, but it will slow it way down. Yes Mark Walsh Political Strategist and Campaign Innovator TMI remains a “brand” that is built into any nuke discussion…and forever will be. This natural disaster will rival Krakatoa for its generational impact.