Nathan "Mud" Hodges In Today's Dispatch

Nathan Hodges has a LTE in today's Dispatch talking about how clean the oil production is on the North Slope in Alaska. Hmm, perhaps he didn't see this article about a pipeline spill on Saturday in The Anchorage Daily News. (I wouldn't have seen it either. Thanx to KOS Diarist Peace Monger.) A 111,300 gallon spill, that certainly must be the largest spill ever, right? Nope. Well, then it had to be that 270,000 gallon spill in 2001, right? Nope, not even in the ball park yet. 672,000 spilled in 1978. The worst part about these spills isn't even the oil, it's the saltwater they mix with the oil to ease pumping. Salt and plant life don't mix. Oh and by the way, there are more than 400 reportable spills every year.