Wildlife in the Balance

* George Will (“Moral Exhibitionism Takes a Rest,” Commentary, April 15) tried to show us that we must balance our actions regarding the environment with their associated costs. He failed to balance his example of destroying wolves in Yellowstone and how this caused havoc with the ecosystem with his desire to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He states that we as an economy should go after the “most accessible oil” first to “avoid higher energy costs, slower economic growth [and] increased national dependency.”

George, what about the ecosystem in the Arctic? Drilling is proven to have an effect on wildlife. Won’t this also create havoc with the ecosystem? We must also balance our need for cheap oil with our planet’s need for ecological survival.

JEFFREY BECK

West Hollywood

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To demonstrate that the Bush presidency will be “less moral exhibitionism and more economic reasoning,” Will points to Bush’s stance of pro-pollution, pro-big oil and anti-alternative energy research. Does Will dare point out where he finds this same kind of economic reasoning in this administration’s attitude toward legal abortion, gun control or its proposal to use our tax dollars to fund religious charities at the same time it prepares to cut budgets for an array of public services?

What a stroke of advertising genius the equivocal moniker “compassionate conservative” has turned out to be!

JUNE MAGUIRE

Mission Viejo