I read in the paper that 25 million dollars have been allocated by your government to study the logistics and engineering of the proposed 2.5 billion dollar DOE strategic oil storage plan for the salt domes at Richton, north of me.

So yesterday I phoned Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker's office in Washington to ask some questions. (I got the number for the Congressional switchboard from an AARP magazine years ago.) Wicker had had some meetings with local aldermen and the Richton mayor in August, and they were all gung ho for this project--JOBS, JOBS, JOBS they all screamed.

Whomever answered the phone in his office yesterday was Homer Simpson (Duh??) He didn't know anything. He turned me over to another brain dead assistant who took my number and said he'd have the Senator call back. That'll never happen I thought.

Today at noon, Sara Drake, the Senator's aide who handles questions about the salt dome project called me and let me air my frustrations about the destruction of the Pascagoula River if it goes forward. Yes, she let me vent, but once the gremlins in Washington decide they're gonna do something you might as well bang your head on a wall. The DOE will do whatever they want, public opinion--and by that I mean input from citizens other than local mayors and aldermen who see money in their pockets from the deal-- means nothing. Questions about environmental issues are swatted aside like pesky gnats. It is so frustrating.

susil