Oil Spill Off Alaska Shore

The map on Page 12 (March 26) shows clearly that the oil companies in Alaska were playing Russian roulette by sending 900-foot long tankers directly across the path of icebergs from the Columbia glacier since 1977. An Exxon spokesman says the 987-foot oil tanker Valdez hit bottom trying to avoid the ice. More than the length of three football fields end-to-end, these huge ships require several miles to make a turn or to stop.

However, in this “game” the loser is not the oil companies but we consumers who pay the costs of bringing us the oil and of trying to clean up the damage caused by spilling 240,000 barrels. The “extremely remote” chance of an oil spill took only 12 years to happen. The precautions promised by the oil companies, which could have prevented the catastrophe, were not carried out. We cannot permit this to happen again.

EARL BUDIN

Los Angeles