Readers React: For the gray whale’s sake, no more drilling in the sub-Arctic

To the editor: Your excellent editorial left out one important consideration for keeping oil development out of the sub-Arctic: the Pacific gray whale. (“Drilling for oil in the Chukchi Sea isn’t worth the risk,” editorial, July 31)

The Atlantic stocks of the gray whale were extirpated in the 19th century. Now, except for a handful of whales left in the western Pacific, the eastern Pacific stock is the only genetically viable group of this species left. Because of its remarkable recovery, it was removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994.

The whales’ annual winter migration to Baja California and back in the summer to the Chukchi and Bering seas support a thriving whale watching industry along the entire western coast of North America.

That one big, dirty, irresponsible industry is being given the chance to put even one species at risk for a mere four years’ worth of energy is unconscionable.

Katy Penland, Madison, Wisc.

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To the editor: I applaud the actions of Greenpeace and the protesters who suspended themselves from the St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Ore., and clogged the Willamette River with their kayaks to delay the departure of Royal Dutch Shell’s icebreaker MSV Fennica for the Arctic. (“Portland protesters hanging from bridge disrupt Arctic-bound Shell vessel,” July 30)

Call me a radical, but sadly it seems these kinds of high-profile, high-risk demonstrations on the part of a few courageous citizens are what is necessary to force a meaningful reduction in carbon emissions and to prevent the fossil fuel industry from hastening the end of life as we know it.

Roger Gloss, Rancho Santa Margarita

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