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Thursday, March 06, 2003 Page: 7A
Another year has passed. That makes three since Southern Union Gas
callously discarded the land that surrounds and protects the source of our
region’s water. It has been three years since the secret buyers of this
formerly protected land began to sell off the property for as much as 50 times
the roughly $300 an acre spent for its acquisition. In Late April, it will be
roughly three years since Defend our Watershed! began to advocate for the
preservation of this precious resource.
So where are we in three years?
There is certainly a good degree of public awareness and anger over this
issue. Many local elected officials have expressed support for our cause. We
finally may have a sympathetic ear in the Governor’s office. But this, sadly,
represents our only progress. The real truth is: there has yet be a single
significant conservation purchase of any Theta Land. Even worse, the
much-heralded conservation of Lackawanna County’s Moosic Barrens, a large
region of watershed partly owned by Theta, is threatened by a proposed sewer
line, an obvious ploy that will drive property values beyond the budget of
conservation organizations, and thus almost ensure development of this rare
ecosystem.
In a recent editorial in this paper, a powerful case was made for securing
the watershed, and in particular, the buffer strips surrounding the
reservoirs, as a defense against terrorism. The article voiced great concern
over the identities of the current owners of the land, who after all, could be
anyone. It stopped short of one further demand: that the Theta ownership
finally reveal themselves so that we may know who it is that controls this
very important resource.
Meanwhile, an emboldened Theta aggressively markets the property, not only
here, but also in larger metropolitan areas where buyers will care little over
what happens in our back yard. Little by~ little, piece by piece the land is
denuded of its timber, and sold to anyone with adequate funds.
What must be done now? It is time for the public officials who were so
helpful on this issue in the fall to begin working toward actual preservation.
There is a great need for leadership to coordinate all of the federal, state,
county, and private interests with the potential to assist in preserving this
land. Once this is accomplished, we must establish the potential funding
available from both public and private sources. We must then negotiate in a
businesslike manner with Theta so that the important lands may be identified
and quickly secured.
We must act now before our most valuable local resource is sold out from
under us. DOW will actively oppose the sale of land that directly, or
indirectly, threatens the function of our reservoirs. The public, through
letters and phone calls, needs to once again remind our elected officials that
the fate of our regional water supply remains a vital concern. It is time to
Defend our Watershed!
Henry F. Smith Jr. MD
Fairview Township