Norton on Oil Leases: State Knows the Drill

Re “U.S. Refuses to Buy Back Oil Leases,” June 8: Clearly, those who claim the Bush administration has declared war on California are correct, as evidenced once more in the statement by Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton of the administration’s intent to allow the resumption of offshore drilling here. I find myself in complete awe of the sheer avarice that President Bush and Co. exhibit.

Norton’s comment about Californians not opposing offshore drilling is so blatantly false that one can’t help but think she can’t be that uninformed, so this must be a form of propaganda that the administration is somehow going to try to make us believe.

What Norton may fail to realize about the people of California: We will not allow drilling off our coast. We will stop it by any means necessary, as we have proven before. My recommendation to Norton: Don’t even try it, you’ll end up with your career destroyed.

Bruce Albertine

Port Hueneme

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So the Bush administration is refusing to save California’s coastline as it saved Florida’s wetlands from further oil exploration and drilling, because “Florida opposes coastal drilling, and California does not.” Let’s be honest: What Florida has that California does not is Bush’s brother, Jeb, running for reelection.

Felice Sussman

Los Alamitos

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Perhaps Norton’s quote would be better worded: “A major difference between Florida and California is that Florida’s governor is the brother of our president and California’s is not.”

Laura Gold

La Jolla