Move to a new agenda

To the editor:

It’s time for the United States to take responsibility in the realm of sustainable energy. Supporting Big Oil and Gas’s desire to turn the Delaware River Basin into an industrial zone is feeding into the nation’s addiction to fossil fuels. Over the past 30 years, our nation has made unwise policy choices. It’s time for a comprehensive plan that embraces sun, wind and geothermal.

Subsidies, tax cuts, limited liabilities and immunities to billion-dollar multinational gas companies and billion-dollar multinational insurance companies are outrageous and un-American. It was not the vision of our forefathers. The United States, at a mere 232 years old, must embrace the visions of our forefathers: Life (without toxins), liberty (From Big Gas and Oil) and the pursuit of happiness (communities that believe in the rights of all citizens, not just the greedy and the short sighted.)

We need to break our dependence on fossil fuels. Exxon Mobil invested a pathetic $100 million of its $40 billion profit into renewable energy investment and research, less than half of one percent. While many consumers in the United States are spending over 10 percent of their income on fuel, the Exxon senior executives’ compensations were $7.5 billion.

We have the ability to innovate our way out of this energy crisis without making the Delaware River basin and all of our nation’s waterways Superfund Sites. Stop blocking tax breaks for wind, solar and geothermal. The tax breaks and subsidies in the Delaware River basin are a fraction of what they are in other states. Write to your representatives today.

Attend sustainable energy seminars in your community and learn what you can do. There is a safe solution where all will benefit, including our beautiful environment.

Support a moratorium for gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin, until an environmental impact study is performed. Sign the petition at www.DamascusCitizens.org.

Bravo Sorensen on the dump

To the editor:

Thanks so much for printing Alan Sorensen’s excellent piece on the expansion/sale of the county dump. Finally, the numbers are out for the public to see the financial losses we are incurring on running the dump. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to me to have one legislator without chronic myopia. The whole idea of sabotaging the new resort at the Concord site with the eyesore that is the county dump is unthinkable. Congratulations to Alan for truly inventive and positive (and you know, when you give it some thought, obvious) ideas. What is holding the other legislators back from this kind of long-term positive thinking?

I am sure a lot of county residents will give wholehearted support to Alan’s ideas. I am grateful that we have at least one forward-thinking legislator.

Activism works

To the editor:

There can be no doubt now that citizen activism works. The decision by PPL Electric Utilities to select Route B as the route for a new, high-voltage transmission line is indeed a watershed event.

When a number of concerned Milford, Westfall and Shohola residents banded together to try to prevent the selection of Route A as the preferred route, stopping PPL seemed almost impossible. But today, it’s clear that the actions of citizens across Pike County—calling, writing and e-mailing PPL, contacting our federal, state and county lawmakers, placing signs on lawns across the region—made a difference, a big difference.

I want to thank all of you, across the region, for supporting the NoRouteA.com movement. There is no doubt that our actions have helped guide PPL to choosing the route with the least net environmental impact. Your efforts have demonstrated that in our country, citizen activism matters.

Finally, I would urge all of us to seriously renew our efforts at energy conservation and alternative sources of energy. Reducing the need for new power lines can only be accomplished if we reduce power consumption and give new consideration to ideas like distributed generation, which would place generating sources nearer to the demand for power. That would not only alleviate the need for new long-distance lines, but also save energy lost during the transmission process.

Speaking out for Il Commendatore

To the editor:

After reading Tom Kane’s review of the opera “Don Giovanni,” I wondered why the Delaware Valley Opera (DVO) would dare scratch the role of Il Commendatore, one of the main characters. I arrived at this conclusion when I saw no mention whatsoever of the character or its performer in the review. After all, Mozart’s opera is based on a play titled “El Burlador de Sevilla y el Invitado de Piedra,” written 100 years earlier by a priest named Tirso de Molina. “Burlador,” liberally translated, means “trickster” (Don Giovanni) and “El Invitado de Piedra” translates to “the guest of stone” (Il Commendatore). These are the two central characters of the story. It ties the beginning and the end. In the opera, everything in between is just nice music.

I saw the DVO’s wonderful production of “Don Giovanni” at the Seelig Theatre and was relieved to discover that Il Commendatore was not only in the production, but alive and kicking (not bad for a petrified person) and that the role was performed majestically by bass-baritone Tom Caltabellotta.

At his age, Mr. Caltabellotta can teach some of us “younger” folks a thing or two about singing. Who could possibly forget, with fondness, being his guest at his table at the Dead End Cafe (before it closed) and enjoying a free bowl of spaghetti while he sang?

In defense of the visitor center

To the editor:

The Upper Delaware Council, Inc. (UDC) disagrees with a recent Sullivan County Democrat editorial assertion that the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway Visitor Center project in Cochecton lacks justification.

To the contrary, we feel that the proposed facility will fulfill a legitimate need to provide orientation, services and amenities to Upper Delaware River Valley visitors, while simultaneously stimulating the tourism-based local economy, and showcasing our natural, scenic, cultural and historic resources.

The value of offering information to foster stewardship of the river valley, brochures promoting local attractions and businesses, and even rare public restroom facilities along the nearly 75-mile New York State Route 97 highway corridor, is inestimable.

The financial picture is also appealing. The non-profit Upper Delaware Scenic Byway, Inc. organization has succeeded in securing 83.5 percent of the $910,000 budget for visitor center construction costs in the form of federal and state grants through the advocacy efforts of U.S. Congressman Maurice D. Hinchey Jr. and New York State Senator John J. Bonacic. The County of Sullivan has committed to meeting the 16.5 percent local share match as the project’s lead agency sponsor. Productive discussions are taking place with all of the involved entities to determine partnership contributions toward future staffing and maintenance.

The proposed development of the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway Visitor Center at the historic Cochecton Erie Depot site complies with two goals listed in the River Management Plan for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River:

• “Foster a public recognition of the Upper Delaware River Valley as a place with its own identity, continuing history and a destiny to be shaped by its residents.”

The UDC believes that an Upper Delaware Scenic Byway Visitor Center would greatly assist in meeting these objectives.

Upper Delaware Council, Inc.