I couldn't help noticing the recent tide of letters to the Times condemning the evil commie-Marxist-liberal Democrats for holding up progress by preventing oil drilling on our public lands. Never mind global warming. Having worked in environmental services, I've seen firsthand the devastation caused by mishandling petrochemicals.

I used to replace old fuel tanks, and in every case there was leakage, sometimes reaching the water table, a catastrophe that is impossible to remediate. The last thing we need is to increase the rate at which we poison ourselves. Saying we can solve our energy problem by drilling for more oil is kind of like a junkie saying he can solve his drug problem by ingesting more heroin.

The EVI, an electric vehicle that could have served the driving needs of a large majority of the public, was leased in California in the '90s. When the leases were up, the manufacturers collected the cars and destroyed them even though most of the owners wanted to buy them. New battery technology has tripled the possible range of these vehicles. Critics say the cars are less efficient than gas cars because of line losses, but this fails to take into consideration the fact that power plants are two to five times more efficient than gas engines, plus the electricity could be generated from renewable sources.

The price of solar panels had consistently fallen while efficiency increased until 2005, when demand started soaring and the price along with it. Now there's actually a shortage of processed silicon, one of the most abundant elements on earth. Who's calling for an increase in silicon production capacity?

Contrary to some people's beliefs, the environmental lobby has made little impact on public policy. There just isn't any money in it. In fact, it is the oil industry and their affiliates who have been setting our energy, transportation, defense and foreign policies for nearly a century. It's time for this to end.

Robert Ely

Hammond