Health Risks in Oil Spills

Alas, another oil spill has befouled our beaches, killed marine animals and given environmental groups something to protest about. We will continue to suffer horrendous oil spills as long as we are forced to transport foreign oil in fragile ships. Ships will continue to be at the mercy of some dictator or sheik as long the public is duped into preserving the panoramic ocean view of a star’s cliff-side house over jobs and the national economy. And we will continue the occasional use of military force to keep the oil flowing.

But every military operation requires the final tally of the butcher’s bill, treating the maimed and comforting the families of the dead. You will not find the sons and debs of the well-to-do serving in the military. The wealthy elitist and political environmental pressure groups are not the solution, they are the problem. The foreign oil washing onto the sand of Malibu Beach is directly related to the blood of our poor and middle-class soldiers soaking into the sand of some foreign desert.

DOUG MEARS

Garden Grove