Offshore drilling - good in the long run?

How is offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (read: hurricane prone area = vulnerable to be knocked out with interrupted supplies) a good idea, while off shore wind turbines (said to be unsightly and kill birds) are a bad thing?

From the 4/8/06 NY Times article: "The two-million-acre area, in deep waters 100 miles south of Pensacola, Fla., is estimated to contain nearly half a billion barrels of oil and three trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to run roughly a million vehicles and heat more than half a million homes for about 15 years. The site, Area 181, is the only major offshore leasing zone that the administration is offering for development..." (emphasis mine)

That's less than one million vehicles, and 500,000 homes over 15 years - given the fact that there's way more homes and vehicles in the U.S. than that - will this amount of fuel even last 5 years?

"While environmental groups say that discouraging new drilling would spur development of alternative fuels, administration officials say that timely action in Area 181 and beyond could bring short-term relief to the nation's energy needs and, perhaps, lower fuel costs for consumers." (emphasis mine again obviously)

What about LONG-TERM relief to the nation's energy needs? Anyone interested in investing in that?