Margi Fox: "Gale A. Norton, the interior secretary, claims that winter operations in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska would leave little trace. My experience on the contested coastal plain belies her assertion."

Peter J. Rob: "Gale A. Norton declares that there will be no significant impact on wildlife and habitat of the 1002 area, a part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, if there is oil development there. What she doesn't make clear is that during the exploration phase, the work may well be done only in the winter but that if commercial quantities of oil are discovered, then the impact is going to be enormous."

Jason A. Sircely: "I find it disgraceful (though not surprising) that the secretary of the interior supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Neither claims of technological transcendence nor Congressional assurances that oil companies will behave assuage the true concerns regarding oil extraction from the refuge. It is shameful that the interior secretary is part and parcel of their corporate strategy."

David Fischer: "You'll pardon me if I regard Gale A. Norton's promises with healthy skepticism. Given this administration's total disregard for the environment, it seems doubtful that any care would be given to protecting the fragile ecosystem of the Arctic tundra."

Get the Story:
Drilling for Oil? Not in Our Refuge (4 Letters) (The New York Times 3/16)
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