Keep Washington waters clean; alternatives are plentiful
As a Washingtonian, I am outraged at President Obama’s offshore-drilling announcement. [“Obama wants to open part of Alaska coast to oil drilling,” Page One, Mar. 31.]
Our treasured waterways are quintessential to our state’s identity and allure. Tourism is the third-largest industry in Washington state. Drilling endangers tourism as well as commercial and recreational fishing, which employ more than 4 million people around the country.
We simply cannot afford to put our oceans under the gun.
There is no need to threaten our beaches, wildlife and tourism with oil spills and pollution when we have much better solutions for ending our reliance on fossil fuels — putting cleaner cars on the road today that will dramatically cut oil consumption; shifting to plug-in cars powered by the wind and the sun that use little to no oil and investing more in public transportation.
— Cara Dolan, Seattle