Hydrofracking = dangerous jobs

There’s one way to get upstate New Yorkers to turn off all reasoning ability: just say the four-letter word: JOBS

There’s no doubt about our need for them, but we’ll believe even known liars if they just whisper “jobs!” in our hopeful ears.

Remember all the jobs that were supposed to be produced at the Mistake on the Lake?  Used to be called Destiny, then it was just a mall expansion, and then Mr. Congel’s bank figured out they were going to lose a lot of money. Banks are in the business of knowing what’s a good deal or not. But I’d bet there are still people out there who believe that “Destiny” is destined to rescue jobless Central New Yorkers.  Oh, please.

So here’s the siren song again: JOBS! …in one of the most dangerous businesses there is: gas and oil. Never mind the environmental catastrophe hydrofracking is, never mind the loss of our clean drinking water, our clean air, our natural resources that all enjoy and that attract tourism. Are these fracking jobs really a boon? Just ask the people who are defending those who have suffered unimaginable loss trying to earn a living in gas and oil:

Oil and Gas Accidents

People employed in the oil and gas industry are subject to some of the most hazardous industrial conditions in the US. Serious injuries occur to even the most experienced oil and gas workers and the severity and duration of injuries, with recovery times that are nearly twice as long, are far worse than in other industry sectors.

Nearly half of all fatal injuries were attributed to highway motor-vehicle crashes and workers being struck by machinery or equipment. Gas explosion injuries, fires, chemical burns and dangerous falls or falling objects or equipment– workers are often hit on the head or back by tools or equipment—are just a few of the dangers occurring on a regular basis in the oil and gas industry.

The oil and gas extraction industry employed about 380,000 workers in 2006 and employment is growing. However, increases in oil and gas activity correlate with an increase in the rate of fatal occupational injuries, particularly when inexperienced workers are not sufficiently trained in safety and precautionary measures.

Hydrofracking promises 20 years’ supply of natural gas.

What we’ll get is the destruction of our water supplies, the poisoning of our agricultural and recreational land and, as a result, a drop in the tourism dollars that come here because it’s clean and beautiful in upstate New York.

When that 20 years is up, WHAT WILL WE HAVE LEFT???

A writer in Cooperstown’s Freemason’s Journal has said it very well:

Ask the mayor of Dish, Texas, folks in Dimmock, Pa., or other places where gas drilling problems are documented. Discuss alternatives to fossil fuels and ban gas drilling. Gas companies are temporary, but cancer is permanent.

MAUREEN CULBERT
East Springfield

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BAN NATURAL GAS DRILLING IN NEW YORK STATE