Carney hears citizens’ gas drilling concerns

Environmental questions abound

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA - Half of the questions Congressman Chris Carney fielded at a town hall meeting on June 13 concerned citizens’ anxiety about gas drilling.

Carney, who expressed the need for a boost to the Pennsylvania economy and the hope that the discovery of gas would help, said that the environment also needed to be protected.

Time after time in listening to the nine out of 18 questioners who faced him for an hour, he said, “I hear your concerns. I think that the issue of control of the drilling falls to the state to regulate. They need to do more to monitor it. I don’t know whether they have enough bodies on the ground to do the job.”

Some questioners cited that the federal government in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 had exempted the companies from the major laws protecting the environment.

“We understand that the state has a role here,” said a questioner near the end of the meeting. “But there are areas that are under your jurisdiction and what we are asking is that you please look at things like clean water, clean air and Department of Agriculture regulations that make it hard for farmers to make a living. Look at all this from the federal perspective while hearing our voices.”

The questioner got a lot of applause when she finished.

Carney said that he would keep her words in mind and the opinions of those warning about the effects of gas drilling when he returned to Washington.

Another question centered on some legislation that Carney did not support. One questioner asked him why he did not support the Democrats in Congress who wanted to punish the telecom companies for their role in wiretapping American citizens after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

“I did not support that legislation because it was bad legislation,” Carney said. “It is not the telecoms themselves that were the culprit here. The telecoms were promised by the administration that what they were asked to do was perfectly legal. Put yourself back to 9/11. I’m not willing to punish the telecoms who acted in good faith.”

During the questioning, Carney said he supported the building of more nuclear plants as has been done in France.

He also addressed the startling rise in gasoline prices. “We are going to look at speculators who may be responsible for this surge,” he said. “There are no federal insights into this question, and there should be.”