Letters to the Editor

MAIL BAG  LETTERS FROM READERS

October 29, 2010

MAIL BAG  LETTERS FROM READERS

Reader: Obama deserves criticism like Bush took

Bipartisan?

I’m trying to figure out if a “corpse man” is a guy who just enlisted in the Marines, or a guy who just died. President Obama doesn’t know either. After all, what can you expect from a guy who, when asked, “When does human life begin?” says it’s above his pay scale.

My question is where are all the pundits, including “Wolfman” Blitzer, who are always trying to make George Bush and Sarah Palin look stupid?

Take measures to ensure drilling is done safely

There is a rush on for releasing the underground natural gas being held in our Marcellus shale deposit.

The public has been informed that this natural gas is clean, plentiful and safe to extract. If people knew the truth, there would be many more opposed to having it done in their backyards, forests and near drinking water supplies.

Those people who have leased land and signed away their rights are getting paid a handsome reward for their risk. The rest of us have to live with the consequences of their judgment and the promises of the oil and gas industry.

The process involves drilling a well through natural clean water aquifers using more than 3 million gallons under very high pressures. The frack water is mixed with a concentrated salt solution along with additives and known compounds including hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, benzene, toluene, arsenic and various organic solvents.

The industry has been exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act under a loophole in a 2005 Energy Bill. There have been accidents around the country and in Pennsylvania when toxic solutions have migrated underground into private wells.

Firsthand accounts from our neighbors in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, have revealed homeowners without fresh water for more than 9 months when their water was contaminated. Noise and air pollution also are known hazards around gas drilling.

In PA. the threat of explosions has forced 20 families from their homes, sometimes for months, and at least 60 water wells, including three municipal water supplies, have been contaminated. We have a decision to make in Luzerne County, where the EnCana Corp. is seeking permits to drill wells in areas that are less than a half mile from a 150-home development and 1.7 miles from the Huntsville reservoir.

New York had the sense to call a moratorium to halt this activity, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has issued forceful statements urging the state to ban gas drilling in the city’s upstate watershed.So why do we in Luzerne County feel we can take this chance? The time is now to call your elected leaders and the Department of Environmental Protection and ask them to pass state laws guaranteeing no drilling is done within at least a 5-mile radius of Huntsville reservoir or within a similar distance from any populated areas, including schools in the Back Mountain.

Join with me and the Luzerne County Citizens for Clean Water in protecting our watershed.

Maintaining public health national security issue

The health of the public is an issue that affects our national security.

To remain a first-rate nation, the United States needs a healthy population. A healthy population maintains a productive and thriving economy. Economic prosperity in turn fosters stability within our nation, and stability enhances our national security.

Additionally, the military requires fit people to fill its ranks, and a robust military is needed to maintain national security. Some men and women who wish to enlist are not suitable because of obesity and poor conditioning. These problems require the military to establish programs to bring potential recruits to a level of fitness to meet minimal standards.

Most important, terrorist activities can affect hundreds or thousands of people, and only a national health system is capable of detecting these threats.

Citizens play a major role in maintaining the public’s health. Personal responsibility is fundamental. Physical health provides individuals an enhanced quality of life, allowing each to earn a living and contribute to society.

All too often, poor physical and mental health lead to disability, with individuals becoming a burden to society. Similarly, poor mental health can lead to crime and homelessness, both conditions being a drain on society. Severe mental health problems can cause unnecessary loss of life.

Detection of problems of groups of individuals begins with timely interaction of individuals with an accessible, responsive public health system. The aggregation of information from individuals forms a more complete picture of emerging problems and allows timely interventions to minimize health threats to the broader society.

Our current health system does not maintain the public’s health. However, reform can occur only when we as a nation agree that public health is a national security issue.

Gas producer exec takes issue with letter writer

Robert Wasilewski’s Feb. 14 column (FRAC Act needed to protect Pennsylvanians’ from the hazards of gas drilling) lodges a host of claims regarding shale gas production and the 60-year energy production technique known as hydraulic fracturing – which has been used more than 1 million times in the United States, and is tightly regulated by energy-producing states – that are simply unsupported by the facts.

While Mr. Wasilewski’s claims that “Pennsylvania’s current regulations governing natural gas extraction leave much to be desired,” he and your readers should know that a top EPA official responsible for drinking water regulation recently said that “State regulators are doing a good job overseeing hydrofracking and there’s no evidence the process causes water contamination.”

Hydraulic fracturing has never – in its 60 years of commercial use – been regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or any other federal law. States, however, have been effectively regulating this technology and protecting groundwater for decades, and continue to do so. So well that there’s never been a case of groundwater contamination. Ever. The bipartisan 2005 energy bill – which was supported by then-Sen. Obama – did not “exempt” fracturing from federal regulation. To claim otherwise is simply false.

Readers should also know that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that a list of fracturing fluids ingredients – made up of 99.5 percent water and sand – be available at well sites.

Inconsistencies and misrepresentations, such as the ones offered by Mr. Wasilewski are an unfortunate attempt to misinform the public about hydraulic fracturing’s long and clear record of safely accessing homegrown energy reserves. The FRAC Act isn’t about disclosure or transparency -- its aim is to stop altogether the use of this critical technology.

Vic Maestro Old Forge Dr. Thomas Jiunta Lehman Township Dr. Catherine Sharkness and D. Randolph Booken Kingston Lee Fuller EnergyInDepth.org Washington, D.C.

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