Letters: Look at facts about fracking
A bipartisan group of elected officials joined opponents of natural gas drilling by hydraulic fracturing at city hall to announce that 5,700 gallons of clean water from New York City's watershed will be trucked to families suffering from fracking-related water contamination in Dimock, Pa. (Dec. 6, 2011) Credit: AP
Newsday is correct that Long Island has a very a serious stake in the fracking debate, but it has nothing to do with wastewater treatment ["LI's stake in the fracking debate," Editorial, Jan. 23]. What's more important are the 600,000-plus jobs fracking may produce nationwide, local and national independence from foreign oil, and desperately needed tax relief for the Island.
The editorial postulates that millions of gallons of untreated water would be trucked from western New York. Such a plan is unrealistic. The reason? Cost! Simply consider the cost of truck leases, fuel, taxes, tolls and more to bring the water to Inwood, Bay Park, Cedar Creek or Glen Cove. It is hard to accept that any company would consider such a proposal.
Can the fracking water contaminants be removed inexpensively on site? The good news is that a newly developed mobile water treatment process has been tested in Pennsylvania. The technology is not yet fully tested or readily available.
It is well known that the Southern Tier region and others in New York have been depressed for years. It is inaccurate to characterize them as landowners waiting to cash in when permits are issued. Unemployment is high, and the population is decreasing as the youth in these communities leave to find work and never return.
As Long Islanders, we know very little about the hydrofracking technologies, their impacts and their promise. I would caution our neighbors and fellow citizens to form their judgments and decisions carefully.
President Barack Obama's guarded but encouraging comments on shale gas development during his State of the Union address is to be embraced. Hopefully it will stimulate more open-mindedness toward its enormous potential.
James E. McAleer Jr., Garden City
Editor's note: The writer is a director with EEA Consultants, an environmental firm.
How could Nassau County government even consider, never mind justify or advance, selling or leasing its sewage treatment plants when there is even the remotest possibility such privatization could bring fracking wastewater to our doorstep? Importing fracking waste to Nassau County should not be an option. Due to mismanagement, our treatment plants cannot even process the local waste they were designed to treat in the first place; and turning them over to a privateer, looking to expand its revenue horizons, would only excite the temptation to venture where we can't afford to go.
Gerald Ottavino, Point Lookout
Editor's note: The writer is a member of SPLASH: Sludge Stoppers & Point Lookout Civic Association.
