Lonnie February 1st, 2010
When my son used to “clean” the kitchen, what was left behind gave me more work, not less. The dishes had to be re-washed. The sponge would be full of junk. The stove had cleanser spilled in unreachable spots. The floor was wet in spots and he would have tracked his dirty shoes through it.
He was eager to tell me, “Mom, I cleaned the kitchen, can I go now?” but I knew better. What he said was not true and I was going to be left with a real job.
This is what we have with the hydrofracking process that threatens to remove “clean” natural gas from the earth in a most unnatural way. It brings to our surface water and our air hundreds of chemicals to contaminate the only natural resources we have of value in upstate New York: clean water, clean countryside and clean air.
We’re going to have an unimaginably large job on our hands if we allow this to to happen to our land. Remember when our parents thought it was fine to dump waste into Onondaga Lake? Do we want to leave this kind of mess to our kids?
We don’t have a seaside, we don’t have a big desirable city (check the real estate values if you disagree on that last part), we don’t have anything but the one thing New York State has been seriously developing lately: our beautiful and historic towns, parks and byways. Frack the land and frack the water and we have NOTHING LEFT. People, our other natural resource, will continue to leave. We already know what a problem that is.
Cornell may be full of those annoying academic types, but heck, there are a few really smart people who just may be good at research. They have put a moratorium on hydrofracking on their land. Would it not be a good idea to find out why before we allow it to start anywhere else in New York State?
Action step:
Attend the Citizen’s Community Forum on Hydrofracking.
Wednesday February 10, 2010 at 7pm
Nottingham High School, 3100 E Genesee St, Syracuse, NY
