Letter of the day: Arctic could be scene of the next (and a worse) disaster

May 22, 2010 at 10:06PM
In this 2003 file photo provided by Subhankar Banerjee a polar bear walks in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A federal court in Oakland, Calif. has ordered Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to decide whether to list polar bears as threatened because of global warming's effect on their habitat, the frozen Arctic Ocean.
In this 2003 file photo provided by Subhankar Banerjee, a polar bear walks in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Associated Press - Ap/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

As the May 16 article pointed out ("Gulf isn't the only place suffering oil's filthy aftermath"), there is a huge cost to oil that most of us do not see or think about. In just more than 40 days, Shell Oil will begin exploratory drilling, similar to that in the Gulf, in the Arctic Ocean. In the Arctic, there is no technology to clean up an oil spill in the extremely icy and stormy conditions, and nowhere near the response capability that is present in the Gulf. Before we lose another amazing coastal area to irreversible damage, President Obama must call for a timeout on all exploration activities. LOIS NORRGARD, BLOOMINGTON

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