Regarding “Gravel plan alarms neighbors,” (News-Times, Dec. 2), if you haven’t seen what a strip mine looks like from space, visit the Google Map Web site and type in Rempel Brothers Concrete Inc., Whidbey Island, WA. Then hit the Search Map button and click the satellite link.

Wow! This site allows you to zoom in close enough to get an idea of the devastating impact strip mining has on our island environment. From above, this mine site shows up as a blight on the land, and standing on the ground it’s a virtual wasteland. Islanders should be very alarmed by this proposal which would expand the existing mine by 100 acres, or 1.66 times the size of the current site.

The mine has been in operation since the 1970s, or nearly 40 years. Though reclamation of the land is supposed to be a part of any mining process, it’s clear from the space shot that Rempel has abdicated that responsibility, entirely. What they are now proposing is that we allow them to continue total devastation and destruction of the local environment for the next several decades. This at a time when we are only learning of the catastrophic effects of global warming.

If you care at all about your local environment, or the beauty of Whidbey Island, please register your displeasure with county officials and state legislators to prevent this horrible project from going forward.

Robert Anderson

Bothell