DEC’s rose-colored glasses

To the editor:

The truest note spoken at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) meeting in Liberty last week came from Cochecton Deputy Supervisor Larry Richardson, when he showed surprise that the DEC’s slide presentation showed New York State and Sullivan County as a Utopia where nothing could go wrong.

Richardson’s surprise was shared by anyone who had attended any of the recent public meetings on gas extraction, which outlined drilling’s great potential for disastrous side effects.

According to the DEC, none of the mountain of facts from other states where similar activity is happening would have any bearing on extraction activities in Utopian New York?

The DEC outlined the manner in which drill sites would be examined by its inspectors before work takes place, with a special emphasis on researching for potential environmental problems. The inspectors would then return and check on things during and after the activity to ensure compliance.

However, when questioned on the number of inspectors in the field to carry out these extensive inspections, the response was 19—one per 750 wells. The math simply doesn’t line up.

The DEC’s lack of information regarding the use of steel containers to contain the recovered fracking water was one of the most frustrating aspects of the discussion. The containers would simply eradicate a major pollution factor in the process and eliminate the open pits of toxic water—they didn’t seem to understand the problem.

If you accept it at face value, the DEC’s rose-tinted view of the coming drilling juggernaut affords some relief, and I’m sure many will now put the troublesome thought of damaged aquifers and pollution behind them—until the fish in the pond go belly up, noise similar to a jet engine goes 24/7, trucks choke the country roads and your neighbors’ fields are lit up like Times Square.

The DEC’s critical lack of knowledge of the hazards associated with drilling encountered around the country is at best unfortunate and at worst irresponsible. I sincerely hope the DEC will get in gear and use its full resource and experience to mitigate the worst environmental problems before they happen, and ensure that the drilling is carried out in the safest and most responsible manner.

Let’s take a deep breath

To the editor:

Before we cave in to another sensationalizing headline or another rumor about the Delaware Valley High School (DVHS) teen pregnancies and STIs, let’s look at the big picture, assess the facts of the situation and stand together to alleviate the problem.

According to the letter sent out by the school district, about 10 percent of DVHS middle and high school students have contracted an STI, which is less than half of the national rate. Each year, 25 percent of teens nationally contract an STD/STI, according to the American Social Health Association.

The letter also reports 25 to 30 pregnancies among the approximately 1,500 DVHS middle and high school female students. Nationally, there are about 126 pregnancies per 1,500 girls age 15 to 19—five times the rate at DVHS, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

While one infected or pregnant student is one too many, we need to act on this problem realistically.

Let’s not blow this problem out of proportion. Let’s not point fingers at Delaware Valley for not teaching children morals—something American society prohibits public schools from doing. We should be standing together as a community. Parents need to instill the morals in their children to make responsible choices.

Everyone interested in staying informed about this issue and other issues affecting our schools should attend the school board meetings on Thursday, July 17 at the DVHS administrative offices. The current board members have done a good job of encouraging public comment at meetings. The safety committee meets at 5:00 p.m., long-range planning at 6:00 p.m., and the regular board meeting at 7:00 p.m.

I also encourage readers to visit my blog, RB for DV, at www.rbfordv.blogspot.com. The website is a place for us all to post informative links and share opinions about the policy decisions our school is making. Hopefully, the collaboration can help strengthen our community.

The solution to STDs

To the editor:

I read the article on STDs in a Milford, PA school locally and on World Net Daily, and thought, what a tragedy. What do you expect? We live in a sex-saturated world where advertising on billboards, music, TV commercials, sitcoms and video games often include sexual themes. I was shocked to hear that the school had an abstinence program in place and that now a conclusion can be drawn that teaching abstinence alone does not work. But as I prayerfully thought about it, why would an abstinence program work at all unless it is a Christian-faith-based one? The answer is, it won’t. Just like the alcoholic needs AA or similar support groups and a higher power, we all need that same power in our lives to overcome all the temptations we are bombarded with day in and day out.

If the students are so bored, they would be better off getting a part-time job, joining a church youth group or the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, becoming a junior member of a volunteer fire/EMS/rescue squad or visiting a nursing home weekly.

I hope the school makes the right choices, because teaching kids to use condoms may decrease AIDS/STDs, but unless these students keep themselves pure in body and spirit, they are headed down a difficult road, filled with great emotional pain and other self-inflicted hurts. God bless all those families in Milford, PA.

Rock on Jonas Brothers! (They are a light in the darkness and stand up for sexual purity).

JP Pasquale

Livingston Manor, NY

Route A: no way

To the editor:

I own land and a home along Cummins Hill Road, as well as a thriving small business, Clarion Safety Systems, LLC, along Old Milford Road in Milford, PA. I attended the public information session on June 30 in Westfall put on by PPL Electric Utilities regarding a new power line.

As a businessman, I understand the critical role that reliable power at reasonable cost has in today’s fast-moving economy. I grasp the reliability issues. I even understand, as difficult as it is, that this power line must go somewhere if reliability is to be increased and sufficient power supplied for the greater region.

All of that said, I must say that my family, my neighbors and many of my friends and business associates plan to oppose strenuously PPL’s efforts in regard to one of the alternatives, Route A.

Yes, my own land would be affected. But that is far from the only reason. I think it is clear that any thorough review of the facts at hand would show that the two other alternatives are preferable.

Route C would use rights of way that already exist, or in many cases use the path of existing power lines. Route B, as it passes through critical sections of Pike County, would follow the path of an existing, 230-kv power line. While this route traverses protected forestland, it would not introduce a new use.

Route A, meanwhile, would involve huge costs for land acquisition, legal challenges and litigation. Selecting that route would only delay accomplishing the higher levels of power supply and reliability that PPL says are needed. Further, Route A would cross the Delaware River at a point already known to be prone to flooding, and one where PPL would likely have to build a transmission tower on one of the islands in the river just to get across it.

It would be deeply ironic if the Milford community, regarded as the birthplace of conservation, finds that a poorly sited power line is one of its chief legacies. I urge that PPL review this matter further, in coordination with the state Public Utility Commission, federal authorities and other relevant bodies.