This page was last updated on September 30, 2010.
Act on drilling before it’s too late; Bob Schmetzer; Beaver County Times; September 29, 2010.
I critiqued 10 previous Schmetzer letters and they are usually broken records. A 2004 letter asserted Republicans were “driving Americans into the ground.” That letter claimed the GOP planned “to reflect their commitment to defend our homeland by reintroducing the draft in 2005” despite the fact Democrats were the only guys talking about reinstating the draft. Other letters resurrected the Cheney/Halliburton talking point, lobbied for VP Cheney’s impeachment, lobbied for surrender in Iraq, and blamed President Bush for a mine cave-in. Breaking the trend were letters lobbying for a government-run, taxpayer-funded healthcare system and another expressing panic at offshoring. One letter was nearly word-for-word plagiarism. More recent letters were entitled “Health plan would level playing field” and “The time to protect our water is now.”
The BC Democrats website used to list Robert Schmetzer as the local town chair for South Heights, but that page no longer exists as of this writing. Mr. Schmetzer is also “vice-president of PA 4th CD Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America.” The PDA-PA4 website is Beaver County Blue. Why doesn’t the Times mention these associations in an editor’s note when it publishes Mr. Schmetzer’s letters?
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“For all of you who love Pennsylvania, this Marcellus Shale drilling issue must come forward now.”
[RWC] This is Mr. Schmetzer’s second letter on this topic in two months. Mr. Schmetzer also wrote a piece for Beaver County Reds.
“Pennsylvania is the next Love Canal. This fracking-style drilling is just starting, and our major rivers are being destroyed, water wells polluted, people sickened and animals dying.”
[RWC] Hydraulic fracturing is not “just starting;” it has been in use for over 60 years.
“There is so much money being thrown around by drillers from foreign and domestic investors that it buys silence, even from the media.
“Wake up to the facts that this is a major environmental disaster, greater than the Gulf of Mexico or Alaska.
“We can live without this natural gas, but not without fresh water. The problem grows worse every day that our lawmakers in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., drag their feet
“Pennsylvania’s gas and oil laws need to be codified to catch up with the present times.
“The 2005 federal energy bill needs to be reviewed for corruption.
“Get involved and informed of the dangers. No fracking.”
[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. As this letter, a Beaver County Reds officer (secretary) wrote the second example.