Oil Drilling Controversy

The Times staff who prepared and wrote your series on the Pacific Palisades oil drilling controversy are to be commended for their efforts. Facts and opinions were well presented and the historical data was very accurate.

As one who has followed this situation for 20 years, may I add another pertinent dimension to the picture--the dangerous state of our nation’s energy resources. In the past few years the volume of oil that we import has, once again, been increasing at an accelerated rate. Experts have predicted that we will soon be buying 45% of our petroleum from foreign sources. Once again, America’s critical energy lifeline is in the hands of foreign rulers who care little about our nation’s economic health.

Now that Iran and Iraq appear to have finished with their long war, and other OPEC nations seem to be patching up old quarrels, are we in for another orchestrated oil crunch like the one that devastated our economy in 1973?

The sad truth is we have implemented no national energy conservation measures and developed no alternative energy sources. We are today more dependent on foreign oil than ever before. Rather than pointing fingers and casting blame, it would serve our country better to take positive action.

We’ve been told that the oil field in the Palisades contains only a small percentage of our nation’s needs. But if we developed a few percent here and another few percent there, we could well be on our way to solving our dangerous energy shortfall.

MALCOM K. OLESON

Pacific Palisades