We are to blame, for avoiding tough choices

Pointing the finger, playing the blame game: It's the Democrats; it's the Republicans; it's the environmentalists; it's the oil companies. It's everyone's fault but our own.

Why aren't we driving cars that get 30 to 40 miles to the gallon? Why haven't we demanded that a technologically advanced battery for cars be developed? Why do we continue to build and buy houses with token energy savers? Why haven't we built mass transit systems that serve more people in more areas? Why don't we know what our dependency on oil really means?

Instead, we made the choice to let our government, the oil companies and our dreams of having the good life cloud our vision. For more than 30 years, we have had the yellow light flashing —- caution —- and yet we became dependent on a resource that is finite. Now we're paying the price and playing the blame game.

AARIS NAVARRA

Woodstock

Drilling in ANWR has potential for real harm

People don't understand that the proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge not only has potential irreversible harm to the ecosystems of what is called "the last wilderness in America."

It also distracts us from the real causes of our energy dependence: i.e., the failed policies of this administration and its cozy but disastrous Middle East relationships.

I can teach my students about caribou calving grounds and polar bear denning grounds and the importance of musk oxen and water fowl, but it is their government that must acknowledge that if something goes wrong in ANWR oil exploration, there will be no cleanup or repair that can undo the damage.

I show them "Planet Earth," not "planet oil." Write your Congressmen/women and tell them to insist that the Alaskan wilderness is not for sale.

LINDA HASKINS

Atlanta

Solar research slowdown an oilman's bad joke

A New York Times article states that the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years. The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres in six Western states.

You gotta love it. Americans are facing gas prices that some say necessitate immediate drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, despite absolutely no evidence that it would ease current prices. Yet the Bush administration sees no dichotomy in insisting that we need to take a slow, measured approach to building solar plants lest we fail to take into account the long-term environmental impact.

JOHN ASEFF

Marietta

With contracts secured, bring our troops home

Mission accomplished! Victory in Iraq is finally ours! Now we can bring the troops home. The Bush-Cheney vision has come to fruition.

The same oil companies that lost their oil concessions to nationalization by Saddam Hussein 36 years ago are restored. Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and PB, the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Co., along with Chevron and some small companies, will receive no-bid 30-year contracts restoring their previous position.

The government of Iraq will be the principal "party of the first part" in these contracts, relieving the occupying forces of any responsibility for the enforcement of its terms. This is an opportunity for the Bush administration to score a coup that will frustrate the naysayers. By bringing the troops home from Iraq before the end of his term, Bush will forever silence his critics.

Or better yet, he could redeploy the troops along the Iranian border.

MEL RECHTMAN

Decatur

Offshore drilling leases mired in bureaucracy

It's time the public was told the truth about offshore drilling leases that Democrats complain are not being used by the oil companies. The Destin Dome off Pensacola is one of the largest blocks in the 68 million acres of unused leases. Chevron drilled three exploratory wells there more than 15 years ago, with results so promising that in 1996 the company applied for approval of plans to drill 21 production wells with enough gas to supply 1 million homes for 60 years.

These plans and those of other companies prepared to drill in 140 other lease tracts in the Destin Dome have been bottled up in the state and federal bureaucracies ever since. Chevron even sued the government in 2000 for failure to provide a timely and fair review of its plans. The government finally agreed to buy back Chevron's leases for $115 million, money that Chevron has taken to Angola, where it is developing gas deposits for export to the U.S.

SAM COSTANZO

Hampton

Keep energy dollars here in the U.S.

I hate to borrow a phrase from Bill Clinton's '92 campaign, but "it's the economy, stupid."

Even if increased U.S. oil drilling and supply do not drop the price of gas, they would keep the dollars for the oil in our economy, rather than sending them overseas. Take ANWR: 1 million barrels a day at $135 each is $135 million a day, $49.275 billion a year. Throw in offshore drilling, and you are starting to get somewhere. We need to do it all: wind, solar, conservation, nuclear and, yes, drill for more U.S. oil.

We spend $600 billion annually for foreign oil. We cannot keep that up and remain a sovereign nation. Energy self-sufficiency would make the economy soar.

DON WHITTIER

Roswell

Let's drill but push alternatives, too

Drilling off the outer continental shelf is the first step toward energy independence, even if it takes five to 10 years to extract this oil. There is an estimated 18 billion barrels in this area. Not drilling off the outer continental shelf is ludicrous if we want to wean ourselves off foreign oil while shoring up the weak dollar. Studies have shown that the impact of drilling in this area would be minimal, and the oil companies have vowed to work closely with environmentalists if allowed to drill here.

Since we are a fossil-fueled economy and dependent on other countries for the majority of our oil, we must start drilling within our own waters but also start pushing hard for alternatives, such as nuclear, wind, biomass and solar.

BRIAN DINAPOLI

Decatur

Heard of conservation?

How ironic. Nine letters in Sunday's AJC on the topic of "Oil and the Energy Crisis" covering the entire enviro-political spectrum, and not one addressed something that could be done immediately —- conservation. Are we as a nation so addicted to our oil-based lifestyle that we cannot think outside the barrel?

LEE DEPKIN

Conyers

Our oil dependency akin to a bad marriage

Now that gas prices are so high, you hear more and more people pushing for new drilling in natural environments like Alaska. But really, is this going to solve anything in the long term? It's like a bad marriage. It takes a lot of effort to leave it, but once you do, you feel so much more free and wonder what took you so long. We have to move away from this abusive spouse (oil dependence) and head toward the calmer waters of sustainable, renewable energy sources like solar, wind and possibly even nuclear power. These methods have proven to be much less toxic on our world, but more important, easier on our weary bodies.

TOM ASHLEY

Sandy Springs

Responses to Mike Luckovich's cartoon, @issue, June 22

No desecration; rather, the painful truth

Mike Luckovich was not desecrating the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, but pointing out the desecration at the loss of life and limb of our young men and women who have fought and continue to fight so the big oil companies can make millions. Service personnel who have lost their lives in this fiasco are no less heroes than those who fought in World War I and II. Many of his cartoons give us a jolt and take us out of our comfort zone, and we need this —- someone with the guts and ability to show us when things are not as they should be. We should applaud rather than castigate him, and I do. Keep up the good work, Mike.

COOKIE McCLURE

Peachtree City

What if ExxonMobil shut down for a week?

Concerning the letter writer whom the AJC and Time magazine make sick ("Cartoon was a desecration," @issue, June 28). He should know by now that both these publications are basically just Democratic propaganda. They claim support for the troops but backstab them at every possible turn. They have no respect for the flag or the military but love the free speech it affords them.

Think for a moment what would happen if ExxonMobil decided to shut down operations for a week. I've already heard one Democrat talk about socializing and another nationalizing the oil industry. Now, who would you want to count on for delivering your gas or diesel? We hear about record profits, but their profit margin is roughly 10 percent. They count on uninformed readers, don't you think?

EDGAR CLIFTON

Lawrenceville

Uncertain times

Responses to "Gloom & Doom enter the room," @issue, June 19

We're free so have very little cause to whine

For Pete's sake, these are the darkest of times? Apocalyptic? What a bunch of spoiled brats we Americans have become. Take a look at world history. Genghis Khan wiping out entire civilizations. The Black Plague. War after war, some 100 years long. Hurricanes, floods and earthquakes, our San Francisco a pile of ashes. Millions killed in gas chambers. With that behind us, would complaining Americans presently wish to swap out with citizens of Darfur, Somalia or Zimbabwe?

Oh, I forgot. You have to shorten your vacation a few days. You are looking for a job but get unemployment benefits. You are hung up in traffic and lose an hour. You lost your home but have an apartment. Your SUV drinks gasoline. You have to drop your membership at the fitness club.

Will Americans ever realize that no matter what they cannot acquire, they are still guaranteed freedom? That ever-glorious but seemingly forgotten American gift? Be thankful for it and love it! You are free.

CATHERINE BOONE SHEALY

Atlanta

Add honeybee collapse to the list of woes

Add colony collapse (sharp decline in honey bees) to Richard Halicks' "lightning bolts," and you may concede that Jeremiah Wright was prophetic when he declared, "God damn America!" If you made two columns with the headings "God bless America" and "God damn America," under which column would you place Halicks' bolts of doom and gloom?

Science, science, where are you when we need you?

ODESSA W. HOOKER

Atlanta

 MIKE LUCKOVICH / Staff
An "IRAQ MEMORIAL" statue depicts soldiers raising an "ExxonMobil" sign.

 DALE DODSON / Staff
A woman standing beneath a dark cloud.