I read Thomas F. Norton’s column in the Jan. 25 issue, “Aviation and the green hysteria” — right on.
I flew for Wien Alaska Airlines from 1952-1982, most of it north of a line from Nome-Fairbanks-Whitehorse. I have lived in Alaska since 1945.
What I don’t understand is why somebody doesn’t ask Al Gore to explain all the dinosaur bones which have been, and are still being, dug up by gold mining and oil drilling operations.
Even pieces of palm tree leaves are showing up in the drill stems.
There is no vegetation on the North Slope that would have kept a large dinosaur alive. Caribou have to dig down through the snow on the Slope with their hooves to find lichens to nibble on in the winter.
How about the “oil lakes” that are called out on Sectional charts of the Slope? These are actually tar pits that have trapped ducks and caribou.
Do the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles come to mind?
Page 84 in the book, “Fifty Years Below Zero” by Charles D. Brower, describes one of these “oil lakes.”
Page 251 in the book, “True North In Alaska” by Jack Webb, describes how coal 4 feet deep washed up on the beach at Wainright after a big onshore blow. Wainright is southwest down the beach from Barrow.
The Eskimos at Barrow used to go southeast down the beach and haul blocks of oil-saturated tundra back to Barrow for fuel. They used skin boats in summer and dog teams in winter. During a layover in Barrow I once had the chance to talk to an old Eskimo fellow who had participated in this fuel hauling as a youngster. The Al Gore types would really have to explain these facts away before they would have a shred of credibility.
There are oil seeps and surface coal washing downstream on one of the rivers I have fished on, and many hot springs located all over Alaska.
DOUG MILLARD
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