Dale column poorly researched, off base

The recent commentary by Shane Dale (Monday, Aug. 27) betrays a shallow understanding of both nature and politics. In discussing drilling in Alaska, Dale accepts the word of an ABC correspondent that 99.99 percent of the refuge would be untouched.

More careful research would have helped Dale understand that the "rules" were written in such a way that all the terrain touched by pipelines that are mounted on pylons counts as "unaffected" because the pylons don't literally "touch" much of the land surface. Only by such tricks was it possible to argue that less than 1% of the land surface is affected.