SOUNDING OFF:

I agree with Jim Righeimer (“$4 a gallon: We did it to ourselves,” May 10) that the recent high gas prices are our own creation.

However, after recovering from all the spinning he did in his article, I realized it was not due to any lack of developing and draining our natural resources to the point that we are so dependent on foreign terrorist sponsored oil.

We did it with the help of people like his good friend Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who stick their heads in the sand and refuse to allow the funding for the research and development of sustainable energy sources.

The column demonstrates classic conservative mentality of eating your own when things get tough. He expresses his staunch support for nuclear power plants but did not explain why such a great energy source is such a threat in the Middle East?

Maybe because the byproduct of nuclear energy is the material for the production of nuclear bombs. Until we can develop a better solution for the disposal of nuclear waste we should approach this option with caution.

As far as the idea to develop the oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is concerned, had we started drilling there eight years ago we would not get any benefit of that oil for another 10 years so that decision has not contributed to the current gas prices.

He also failed to recognize that the 1% of development he refers to consists of 2,000 acres in plots all over the refuge, connected by roads across the tundra and the winter he refers to is getting shorter by the year due to climate change.

When are we going to admit there is a finite amount of oil to drill, pump, refine and burn to further pollute our air and that sooner or later we will have to find another way even if it means getting out of our cars? The one thing I did appreciate about the article was Rohrabacher’s admission that we did not start a war in Iraq to spread Democracy, but we did it for the oil.

STEVE VELASCO lives in Costa Mesa.