In this article, David Goldstein discusses the impact of oil prices on the environment. Goldstein mentions that while low oil prices will reduce the attention given to policies pushing clean energy, they also make policies promoting dirty energy less financially viable. For instance, the Keystone XL pipeline, a project designed to send tar sands from the Arctic south to Houston, Texas, stops being financially viable with the price of oil near $30 a barrel. However, with the price of oil anywhere north of $70, the Keystone XL becomes financially viable.

Further, with the price of oil this low, fracking becomes less financially viable. Fracking releases hundreds of dangerous chemicals into drinking water. Other drilling projects have been cancelled. According to this article and this article, Chevron indefinitely shelved its offshore Arctic drilling project due to falling oil prices. And since oil prices are predicted to stay low for possibly up to a decade, this significantly impacts the viability of similar projects, like the Imperial Oil project that has yet to be cancelled.

The article then states that since consumers were okay with paying $120 a barrel, it would be fair to charge producers $80 a barrel to produce oil. This money could be used to eliminate the national debt, and since the producers do not earn that money, it allows for clean energy initiatives to continue to grow.