I'm writing in response to three items on the Dec. 1 editorial page: the editorial "Halt lease sales" and two letters by Linda West ("BLM vs. parks") and Stephen Trimble ("TR's timeless advice") -- all of which worry about the long-term scars from drilling.

Next summer or spring, please take a trip to Mountain View, Wyo., a few miles south of Fort Bridger. Turn south on road 410, go seven to 10 miles, and view the green, quaking aspen and pine and the eye-soothing scenery on the north slope of the Uintah Mountains. Then try to find the remains of an oil and gas field that was drilled by Phillips Petroleum in the 1960s and '70s.

The scenery is not spoiled because it is on U.S. Forest Service land. When these leases were let, the agreement was written so that the land would be returned to its original state. As you will see, that agreement was met. This can be done for all oil and gas drilling fields anywhere, and should soothe any doubts about residual eyesores.

Wayne Martinsen

Vernal