This page was last updated on January 11, 2011.
People must unite to counter drilling; Sherry Allen; Beaver County Times; January 9, 2011.
Ms. Allen wrote three previous letters I didn’t critique. One (“Conserving water for future,” 1/13/08) asked us to conserve water (primarily by not eating meat) and another (“Say ‘no’ to push polling,” 2/10/08) complained about alleged telephone “push polls” by Republicans, and the third was (“Plant a garden to offset oil usage,” 8/1/08). In one letter I did critique, Ms. Allen gushed about a book she found “that has hundreds of ideas on how to save our planet.” In a partisan letter, Ms. Allen concluded with “Let’s endeavor to walk together peacefully.” In one letter, Ms. Allen related a story of disaffected Republicans voting for Mr. Obama. In another letter, Ms. Allen tried to compare abortion and war in an effort to promote Barack Obama over John McCain. Other letters from Ms. Allen were entitled “Just appreciate the here and now,” “Let’s be proactive on the environment,” “Arena a valuable community asset,” “Time to get behind health-care reform,” “A state budget we can all live with,” “Keep pushing for a public option,” “Election ruling terrible for nation,” “Practicing small acts of kindness,” “It’s how we act after events that matters,” “Use freedom of speech wisely,” “Let’s reduce our carbon footprints,” “Natural gas drilling impacts our water,” and “Don’t take shortcuts on drilling for gas.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“We’re experiencing an irresponsibility and greed crisis.”
[RWC] This is at least the third letter from Ms. Allen on this topic. “Greed” is a go-to word for the left. If you don’t follow leftist dogma, by definition you are greedy.
“I’m deeply saddened witnessing our infrastructure, environment and morality crumbling before my eyes. Pennsylvania may become industrialized and uninhabitable.”
[RWC] “Pennsylvania may become industrialized?” Pennsylvania has been industrialized for over a century.
“Worse, we elected a governor who’s revoking the moratorium on Marcellus shale natural gas drilling, and doesn’t want to tax or regulate it or to protect our air and water. He accepted $800,000 from the drilling industry for his campaign.”
[RWC] The existing moratorium is only for drilling on state-owned land, not private property.
Gov.-elect Tom Corbett “doesn’t want to … regulate it or to protect our air and water?” As a previous writer, Ms. Allen is just making stuff up.
“With 90,000 signed leases in Beaver County and drilling starting in a few months 4,000 feet from the Ambridge Reservoir, it doesn’t look good. The drillers have money and organization.”
[RWC] Does anyone want to bet Ms. Allen never sees a problem when labor union management has “money and organization?”
“Fortunately, we’re blessed with almost 180,000 valuable citizens.
“In northeastern Pennsylvania, my community was threatened by a government-operated project that would have had devastating affects [sic] on the area. One woman went to every public meeting voicing her concern and outrage. Our citizens’ power stopped it.”
[RWC] “[N]ortheastern Pennsylvania?” Ms. Allen’s letters indicate she lives in Brighton Township, not “northeastern Pennsylvania.” Note Ms. Allen didn’t describe the alleged “government-operated project.”
“Recently, Beaver County residents met to discuss what we can do to protect our water. I envision hundreds of groups throughout our state meeting, too. Safe water is not optional.”
[RWC] Ms. Allen didn’t tell us who sponsored the alleged meeting. I wonder why.
“Just show up at the meetings to listen and learn. Support the power of the people. Often difficult challenges produce progress.”
[RWC] As I’ve written previously, companies harvesting our natural resources must do so in a responsible manner and must have the financial and technological wherewithal to handle worst-case scenarios. It is government’s responsibility to enforce these rules and to make sure everyone involved [businesses and government (local, state, federal)] is prepared (via drills, for example) to execute disaster plans. That’s not what this letter is really about, however.
This letter is about the religion of manmade global warming. Knowing the manmade global warming myth is increasingly falling on deaf ears, followers of this faith are trying to use safety, water quality, etc. as backdoors to stop drilling and production of Marcellus natural gas. You can find other examples here and here.
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