Oil War II
Very interesting. Paul Ciotti writes in “Oil War II” that Interior Secretary Donald Hodel contends that “the facts in favor of oil drilling, if not the votes, (are) on his side.” What a coincidence that Hodel rolled out the pro-oil survey beginning in 1971, rather than 1969--the year of the Santa Barbara oil disaster. In defending the oil drillers’ environmental record, Hodel praises them for having “lost a total of only 21,000 barrels of oil.” If his report had counted back to 18 years ago, instead of 16, he couldn’t escape mentioning that more than 300,000 gallons of crude oil spewed up from an oil well on the ocean floor.
Elizabeth Mortimer
Los Angeles
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