Over the years I have read numerous examples of environmentalist illogic, but William Becker’s Feb. 1 letter, “Ban drilling,” has to be answered.
The Exxon Valdez was a ship, skippered by a drunk, when it ran aground. The spill in the Galapagos Islands was also caused by a ship, skippered by someone willing to take an uninsured scow to sea. Neither accident was caused by a drilling rig!
Prince William Sound is on the south coast of Alaska. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is on the north coast–right next to Prudhoe Bay. I have never heard of a spill or accident with regard to Prudhoe Bay or to the pipeline that carries the oil from there to Prince William Sound.
Prince William Sound has recovered quite nicely since the spill and will continue to heal itself. It is still a wondrously beautiful place full of little animals, not a dreary, polluted Orwellian moonscape.
As for the Galapagos Islands–the place that inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution–those animals have faced far more lethal threats than an oil spill.
We should encourage petroleum companies to hire sober, competent captains who will see to it that their ships get where they are going safely with all their cargo.
