Jay M. Gould
     302 West 86 St.
     New York, NY 10024
     212 496 6787
     jaymgould@aol.com



     From: <JayMGould@aol.com>

     To the Editor, New York Times
     October 15, 2001
     Letters@nytimes.com

     Why Ben Laden Hates the US


     A story in the Sunday New York Times of October 14, entitled
     "Fears, Again, of Oil Supplies at Risk", states that the US with 5
     percent of the world's population consumes 25 percent of the 76
     billion barrels available annually.

     The article also states that Ben Laden has announced "that he
     wants oil to be $144 per barrel -- about six times what it sells
     for now". Consequently the biggest fear of oil companies is that
     his followers might "might topple the ruling Saudi family" for
     selling oil too cheaply, perhaps by destroying Saudi pipelines by
     sabotage.

     This appears to be a far more realistic scenario for the immediate
     future than than continued terror attacks on the US. If so, the
     silver lining is that most oil companies today have small but
     strategic investments in photovoltaics, hydrogen cells, geothermal
     steam and other forms of renewable energy, because as recently
     announced by Texaco and Chevron, they "are in the business of
     supplying energy".

     If the price of oil does rise , we may be forced to renounce our
     wasteful desire for gas-guzzling SUVs.

     For the past half century we have invested some $4 trillion in
     subsidies for developing nuclear technology for both reactors and
     weapons, now seen to be worse than useless for our national
     defense . If one percent had been spent on developing solar
     technology, today we would really have "energy too cheap to
     meter". We could furnish enough photovoltaic shingles to cover the
     roofs of 4 billion homes worldwide, and give employment to
     hundreds of millions of third world populations now considered
     redundant . In such a world, in which both poverty and pollution
     would be eliminated, no one would hate us.

     Jay M. Gould
     www.radiation.org