To the Editor:
No news article in the Madison County Courier about the “hydrofracking” rally in Albany and no mention of hydrofracking in the State of the State speech by Governor Cuomo, even though it was listed in the article in the Syracuse Post Standard on Jan. 8 as being on the agenda. Doesn’t the showing of 1,500 to 2,000 citizens of New York state mean anything?
Miriam Barrows
Town of Nelson
I have to say, as a didicated reader, I defend the Madison County Courier here. First off, Albany isn’t in Madison County. Second, they aren’t “excluding” coverage on “hydrofracking” and frankly they have nothing to do with the State of the State what-so-ever. And to top it off, they are a small paper that can’t be everywhere at once. There is other news besides “hydrofracking” that doesn’t get covered because there simply isn’t time for a writer to be there, or there isn’t room on the layout for it.
While I can appreciate the passion that you and your group have against “hydrofracking” I’m getting a little tired of it being shoved in everybody’s face.
More and more time is being spent on this topic in town’s all over Madison County and in other places.
It is on the agenda of board meetings over and over and over again so that the same things can be said every month….or previously given information can be corrected. You obviously have the right, and have figured out how to get on the agenda’s of these boards so you can continue to tell us every negative thing there is about “hydrofracking.”
When people at the meetings ask a simple question, or make a statement that may sound as if it would favor “hydrofracking” whichever of you is speaking automatically switches to defensive mode and starts spewing information off of your notes instead of just answering the question. You don’t care to listen to the ‘devil’s advocate’ at a meeting, just to get your point across.
Your group continuously bombs the Courier for not enough coverage, but if they do an article with opinions differing from your own, you bomb them for that too.
The Town of Sullivan has told you several times that they were going to take a “wait and see approach” when you asked for a moratorium. The reasoning was, the surrounding towns are doing studies and looking into whether it would be in the best interest to enact a moratorium, or work on banning it, or whatever. These studies are expensive and I think the point of the board in the Town of Sullivan was, ‘why duplicate the effort and expense when we the information our neighboring towns and villages is going to be public information and we can use that in making our decision once that time comes.’ I believe it was also mentioned at one point that they weren’t going to allow “hydrofracking” in populated areas but basically leave it open in the agricultural areas.
At another point it was said that “hydrofracking” doesn’t fit in with our land use laws and a varience would be needed for companies to come in. If a property can be used for it’s intended purpose, there is no reason to issue a varience.
So, you come to every meeting to ask the town’s to enact a moratorium. Without listening to the reasoning of everything because you can’t get past your defensiveness and turning back to your notes and going into a lecture when someone says something to you that isn’t “sure, I’ll do whatever it is that YOUR group wants.”
TRUST ME – you aren’t being ignored by the paper, the town, the citizens, anyone who comes in contact with you.
I personally do not have an opinion one way or the other on “hydrofracking” in the sense you are speaking of it.
I have an opinion on the fact that I’m tired of it being shoved in my face by people who are against it and who can’t listen or reason, or have a conversation about the actual “pros and cons” of it.
I have an opinion of people who signed contracts with these companies and then jumped on the band wagon against “hydrofracking.”
I have an opinion and a really huge problem with the term “hydrofracking” being used by your group and other groups similar to yours as “THE” term for the process used in extracting gasses from the shale beds in the manner that these companies are doing. Hydrofracking is used all over, every day, as an effective means to do many varying types of work. Drive down Route 31 right now where the sewers are going in, how are they putting them in? They are digging in areas, but essentially, in many of the areas they are “hydrofracking” to get the sewer lines in without having to DIG all the way through the sewer district. While it may make a big mess…nobody seems to have an issue with them “hydrofracking.”