Dear Editor:

It's a shame that Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton voted last week for a bill that would expose more than 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling. Apparently they didn't read the fine print.

First of all, drilling in the gulf will not yield enough oil or natural gas to increase the supply significantly for the voracious American public. Secondly, no matter how much oil can be obtained there, it won't make a dent of even one cent in the price of gasoline to drivers or natural gas to consumers. Keep in mind that this oil and natural gas won't start flowing for another seven to ten years. If citizens think we've suddenly hit upon an immediate solution to our urgent energy crisis, they, like our senators, are mistaken.

We ought to be curbing our oil appetite, not whetting it. We need a bipartisan energy policy that will promote alternative fuels and reduce fossil fuel consumption. It's time Americans went on a low-petroleum diet, and Senators Schumer and Clinton must do better for us by approving legislation that will end our binge.

Anthony Zuba, North Babylon The writer is a volunteer with the Sierra Club.