JAMES HERMAN OTHER VOICES: Road To Ruin

I had the pleasure of spending the day and evening with Mayor Calvin Tillman of Dish, Texas, as I drove him to speak with officials during the day Tuesday, Feb. 16, and to his lecture in Oneonta that evening.
Dish receives emissions from 11 natural-gas compressor stations and many pipelines. The results are seen in serious health issues for quite a few residents of this little town. High levels of carcinogenic and neurotoxin compounds have been recorded which are above safe levels.
My most poignant personal experience with Mayor Tillman occurred driving up Route 205 north to Cooperstown.
Calvin looking out at a cornfield says: “In Texas, you could not drive straight through at 55-60 mph on a road like this.”
I ask why not?
“Because there would be so much heavy-duty tanker-truck traffic from the gas wells. These corn fields would make perfect well sites.”
The Marcellus shale (one of several target strata for the gas companies) in New York state alone is over 3.5 times the size of its relative, the Texas Barnett shale. 
It suddenly hit me how much my life will change if drilling proceeds.
Like many people in Otsego County I travel Routes 205 and 28 many times in a month. A lot of gas leases border both routes.
Just imagine Route 28 with the 350,000 +/- tourists a summer traveling to Cooperstown and waiting on the massive tankers carrying water, toxic chemicals and heavy-duty equipment.
There can be little doubt that traffic congestion, road deterioration, accidents and pollution will result. What will this mean to tourism in Cooperstown?
What happens when a tanker carrying toxic waste water from the wells has a spill on the road? Are Otsego County or New York State ready to pay for the clean up?
Spills are the most common accident in natural gas production. According to the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, that state recorded 1,549 spills between 2003 to 2008, about one a day.
Mayor Tillman later stated that, to handle the heavy equipment and tanker traffic, roads must have a gravel base with 8 inches of asphalt on top. Presently, state highways like 205 and 28 have about 2 inches of asphalt.
That would be a very expensive highway, especially if tourists just get disgusted with the industrial level traffic and decide to go elsewhere.

Jim Herman, who lives in Hartwick, is a member of Sustainable Otsego, which sponsored Tillman’s visit.