Oil exploration in the Arctic

Re “Hands off ANWR,” Opinion, May 6

Bill Stall inflates his figures in support of his speciousness. Had America been allowed to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge several years ago, the ANWR oil would be in today’s market, not some years hence. ANWR would be a bountiful, secure domestic oil source and would have created useful employment. Further, every ANWR oil dollar spent would be one less sent overseas to the likes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Saudi Arabia.

Stall further bends the facts when he claims drilling advocates contend that ANWR is “key” to our energy security rather than a tremendous domestic help. After all, while Stall sniffs at ANWR’s 2% contribution to our energy, he’ll crow about wind energy without ever mentioning the visual blight. A temporary oil derrick is minuscule in comparison to those behemoths.

LELAND P. HAMMERSCHMITT

Ojai

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Stall presumes the effect of oil exploration and production in ANWR will permanently destroy this wild and unspoiled place. Is that true? For how long? Isn’t this Arctic plain so remote and inaccessible that after big oil has come and gone, taking its equipment with it, the wilderness will become just that again, a place no one but the offspring of the species it sustains will ever see?

Because it will never be a tourist spectacle, ANWR cannot be compared to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon.

STEVE FOSTER

Coto de Caza