Let's put offshore drilling into context.

In the weeks since President Donald Trump signed an executive order to open up offshore sites in the Atlantic Ocean to energy exploration—removing a prohibition on offshore drilling imposed by the Obama administration—the topic has been buffeted by partisan political debate.

We wish instead that the discussion focused more on the realities of where America stands in its pursuit of energy independence, on whether such activities would inhibit the operations of Hampton Roads military installations and on the possibility, albeit remote, that an oil spill could harm Virginia’s shoreline, beaches and fragile coastal ecosystems.

President Trump has the same power to open up offshore sites to drilling that President Obama used to close them. And with that, the partisan battle lines are drawn and opposing litigators draft their legal arguments.

Given the certain political and statutory wrangling, actual exploration of offshore oil and natural gas reserves and subsequent drilling remain a long way off. In the end, even with a green light to drill, energy industry decisions about offshore endeavors hinge on its evolving priorities and investment strategies as they relate to profitability based on oil and gas prices.

Without exception, every discussion on America’s energy future these days involves the diversification of energy resources. The nation is on a path that will over time lead it to weaning itself from the use of fossil fuels, even as production and consumption of natural gas, a cleaner fuel than oil or coal, has moved the United States closer to energy independence.

Moreover, rising domestic oil production—like rising gas production as a result of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—has contributed to the global oil glut and lowered local gasoline prices to the $2-per-gallon range when prices are usually up for the summer travel season.

Simultaneously, advocates of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, which include everyone from environmentalists to industry behemoths such as Dominion Energy, point to the increasing megawatts of electricity these alternatives produce and their growing importance to the nation’s energy supply menu.

Meanwhile, Dominion was recently granted a permit for a third nuclear reactor at nearby North Anna Power Station. Company officials say that while the permit is good to have as an option, the cost of such a project makes pursuing it unlikely any time soon.

At a time when renewable energy industries are expanding and adding jobs, and more Americans (65 percent, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center poll) say the U.S. should prioritize development of renewables over fossil fuels, the prospect of offshore drilling seems to offer an incentive to go backward rather than forward.

While the president’s order pertains to sites off the coast from Virginia to Massachusetts, Pentagon officials have been quick to point out the potential for offshore drilling activities to interfere with operations of the many military installations in southeastern Virginia. Local and federal officials are already worried about the impact that rising sea levels caused by climate change will have on those same military bases and the employment they provide.

The prospect of new jobs is key to the pitch for offshore drilling, but Virginians should be at least as concerned about the jobs that the military bases and the commercial Port of Virginia have provided for so long.

Finally, while offshore drilling accidents and spills are relatively rare, the environmental damage inflicted when they do happen is widespread and long-lasting.

The 1969 well blowout off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., is remembered for its major impact on wildlife and Southern California’s tourism-dependent beaches, for the safeguards it brought about and for spawning the anti-offshore drilling movement.

The April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 rig workers, demonstrated that the protections in place to prevent such disasters are not foolproof. Official studies called the environmental effects to the Gulf Coast and thousands of marine species “devastating,” adding that the spill’s lethal legacy continues today due to the lingering toxicity of the oil and chemical dispersants.

When it comes to passing judgment on offshore drilling, considering the realities of the issue is much more constructive than leaping to expected partisan conclusions.