LETTERs to the Editor:

2-5-10

To the Editor:
The Southern Tier of New York lies over two vast natural gas repositories, the Marcellus and Utica shales.  Is shale gas a blessing or a curse? 
Energy developers and landowner coalitions assert that a robust gas-extraction industry here would bring prosperity to our region and reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign energy supplies.
For example, a commissioned report, “Potential Economic and Fiscal Benefits from Natural Gas Production in Broome County, New York” (available online) projects that this industry could bring a positive economic impact of up to $15 billion over 10 years to just Broome county.
Observers with fewer stars in their eyes cite a report, “Fossil Fuel Extraction as a County Economic Development Strategy” (also online), which shows that counties hosting intensive oil and gas extraction performed more poorly over 35 years than similar counties where there was little or no drilling. 
“Energy-focusing” counties ended up with smaller economies, lower student graduation rates, and greater gaps between rich and poor residents.
Why are these two profiles so different?  The former considers only the boom phase of industrial development, while the latter takes the entire boom-bust cycle into account. 
Rather than supporting economic recovery, the gas industry appears to be one from which we would have to recover over the long term. And that’s before we consider the mess left behind. 
I’m not so long of tooth or short of memory to only care about what happens to this community for the next 10 years.  From where I stand, the shale gas industry is bad business for New York.
DR. RONALD E. BISHOP
Fly Creek
(Ron Bishop teaches
 biology at SUNY Oneonta)


To the Editor:
The current state of our community should alarm each and every resident within the City of Oneonta. If there was ever a time to go to the Common Council meetings or speak with your aldermen and mayor, it would be now.
In just six months we have seen: our National Soccer Hall of Fame on the verge of collapse, our police officers violate their duties, our elected officials go back on their word to investigate the situation despite public demand, Bresee’s drain almost $10 million from the city and county, our Foothills Arts Center drain another $9 million due to mismanagement, and now the baseball team is leaving as the city approaches the end of its financial reserves.
The problem with all of this, and the reason that I believe everyone should be speaking with their aldermen, is because we have given a small group of individuals too much power.
Whether it’s the Soccer Hall of Fame board of directors, the Foothills BOD, or the Common Council, the methods that we have grown used to implementing, and the people who continuously enact these methods are simply not working to the standards we deserve.
So with this, what will it take for us as a community to make change happen? Merging with the town and selling off property will only help our economic decline for a short while, before we then run out of those funds, and are still left without any substantial resource to generate revenue.
If we, the people, do not start acting and speaking up, we will always end up on the losing side of things and our city will die.
The college students can only hold us up so much before we have to rely on ourselves for answers and direction.
JASON CORRIGAN
Oneonta

To the Editor:
Obama accepted an invitation from the Republican House leadership to address their retreat in Baltimore.  His speech was followed by a very interesting question-and-answer session. 
Republicans repeatedly complained that the White House and congressional Democrats had ignored their ideas, locked them out of the policy-making process and unfairly labeled them as obstructionists.
On Jan. 27, Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana claimed on MSNBC: “House Democrats in this administration have shut Republicans out of the entire process in the House.”
Democratic Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina insists: “That is absolutely not true.  We had these bills on the House side go through three committees and Republicans are on all of those committees.  They participated.  They put up amendments.  Many of those amendments were adopted.  And we came out with a bill that had a lot of their amendments in it.
“It is amazing how these people can go to the floor, after going through all of that, and because they decide not to vote for it, then they say they were not consulted.  They did not have an opportunity to participate.  It is the most ridiculous thing that you could possibly say.
“Now,  that’s just the House side.  The Senate did two committees.  If you look at the bill, this high-risk pool that the Senate came forward with, go back and look at John McCain‘s campaign ad.  He campaigned on creating the high-risk pool.  That was his philosophy we brought into this bill, and they still would not vote for it. 
“But we ought not be surprised.  You just saw Republicans, seven of whom co-sponsored legislation to do something about the deficit commission.  Then when it came time to vote, seven of the people who co-sponsored voted (nay).”
JIM O’LEARY
Delhi


To The Editor:
Many of us are alarmed that five Supreme Court justices have ruled that a corporation has the rights of an individual and, therefore, may be considered an individual when making campaign donations. No matter what legalese was used to justify this ruling, it is clearly a blow against democracy, since it diminishes government by the people and increases government by corporations.
Corporate interests are basically about making money. I have no problem with that as long as the rights and needs of individuals are not being violated. However, I strongly oppose the ruling that a complex of individuals out to make profits for themselves and their stockholders is merely an individual exercising constitutional rights.
This weakens the vote of the individual in what our government thinks is a model democracy that the remainder of the world should adopt.
If our legislators stand by, fold their hands, and do nothing about this, it will become even clearer to the people of this country that the U.S. is not a democracy but a “moneyocracy.”
Elected representatives in the Senate and the House of Representatives should hear from us about this critical issue.
SAMUEL E. WILCOX
Cooperstown