Your editorial about diverting money generated by gas drilling is visionary, and I wish you were on the board of a gas giant. Though production methods have changed, the basic operational mentality of large energy companies has not. The potential of a 30-year field is irresistible, seemingly interminable, as the profits flow in. Why don’t these companies have a diversified approach or plan for the future?

In a presentation last Saturday in Stroudsburg, PA, Terry Engelder PhD, a leading geologist and proponent of horizontal drilling techniques, spoke. He showed maps of Marcellus shale; when asked about aquifer maps he didn’t know if any existed.

Tracy Carluccio of Delaware Riverkeeper said it will cost 25 cents a gallon to process toxic water coming out of gas wells; the amount of water will be astronomical.

Currently, it’s impossible to imagine that we could run out of water. Yet, in the Australian state of Victoria, the state government is proceeding to build a desalinization plant to supply water for the state. It will be the most costly project ever. Ten years ago, it was unimaginable to think this could happen.

If there are droughts in the lower Delaware, salt could creep upriver and into ground waters. If the upper river becomes polluted, the price of water will go through the roof.

Harrisburg’s decision to add 68 new staff to the Department of Environmental Protection and to strengthen regulation of gas drilling to provide better protection of Pennsylvania’s communities and natural resources from damage is a welcome catch-up.

Alternatives are more desirable. Algaculture (algae farming), for instance, is sustainable for hundreds of years, and would thrive in the Delaware valley with its abundant water and farm land, providing many jobs and income for locals. By producing algal fuel, CO2 is converted to oxygen.