Oil Drilling

The gall, the lack of vision, and the social irresponsibility of the large oil companies are astounding. I refer to your Oct. 23 front-page article on Chevron’s repeated and continuing attempts to go ahead with exploration and eventual drilling in the Glacier National Park/Medicine Lake area of Montana (specifically--but certainly with an eye on Exxon).

As a tour guide in America’s national parks, every year I accompany a couple of hundred foreign visitors to the areas described in the article, and the admiration and awe which my passengers express for these large, gorgeous and relatively pristine lands make me very proud of my country.

How can such natural resources receive such little protection from the very federal bodies created to preserve them? I was amazed to read several times in the article “rangers” quoted as saying the proposed exploration and drilling would be a positive thing and that wildlife habitat would in no way be affected. A $500 fine for feeding squirrels in the national park and vocal approval of dynamiting and drilling a couple of miles from the park’s borders. Incredible. To say nothing about the religious freedom and cultural dignity of Blackfoot Indians.

CHRISTOPHER F. DALEY

Los Angeles