Follow Pa.’s lead on gas drilling? No thanks

Kathryn Z. Klaber, Pennsylvanian and longtime gas industry spokesperson, now crosses the border to lecture New Yorkers on how dumb we are to hesitate joining the big gas blowout.

In her Jan. 17 Star-Gazette viewpoint (“Delaying drilling will hurt N.Y.”), Klaber berates new New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens for saying: “I see no reason to rush to judgment on a decision as monumental as hydrofracking.”

“The short-term economic case for harvesting clean energy resources from the Marcellus is … compelling,” Klaber responds.

Harvesting? You know, like corn and potatoes. Clean energy? Yes, right in there with oil and coal.

How could we not want to emulate Pennsylvania’s 1,610 DEP violations since 2008, 1,057 of which were judged likely to impact the environment?

How could we not envy the 3.6 million barrels of waste water sent to Pennsylvania treatment plants, and, according to DEP records, emptied into Pennsylvania rivers?

How could we not want Dimock’s drinking water? Or the industrialization of Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains and of Williamsport’s Little League World Series? The gas companies are just licking their chops to do the same for Cooperstown and the Finger Lakes.

“Has there ever been a more important time to take advantage of these opportunities?” Klaber asks.

Yes — how about never?

Steve Coffman
January 26, 2011, 12:00 am
http://www.stargazette.com/article/20110126/VIEWPOINTS03/101260302/1121/Follow-Pa.-s-lead-on-gas-drilling?-No-thanks