LETTER: No debate about oil drilling on Nevada’s public lands

I have come to understand through my university studies of environmental sciences and natural resource management that, in the climate crisis debate — as in many other challenging issues — there often must be a lot of compromise between two or more strongly opposed forces. On the specific issue of climate change, however, I wholeheartedly believe that there are a few areas where compromise is not an option.

As Clark County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick said in the article, “any potential impact to drinking water sources is simply unacceptable.” This is an unwavering warning to officials and citizens everywhere about the dangers of destroying America’s public lands.

The Department of the Interior and its land management branch, the BLM, are unapologetically moving forward with plans for oil and gas exploration and drilling, both in Nevada and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This is a clear and direct threat to the biological, cultural and climate stability that fossil fuel extraction has proven to undermine.