DEC must consider contamination
An article by John Hurdle datelined Philadelphia, Aug. 27, (Reuters) titled, "U.S. finds water polluted near gas-drilling sites," should be heeded by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The polluted water came from 11 of 39 water wells in Pavillion, Wyo., this spring. Greg Oberley, an Environmental Protection Agency scientist who has been testing the water samples, explained that the agency responded to complaints from local residents that their well water had become discolored, foul-smelling or tasted bad.
The EPA found contaminants such as 2-butoyethanol, or 2-BE, which researchers say causes the breakdown of red blood cells, leading to blood in the urine and feces, and can damage the kidneys, liver, spleen and bone marrow. 2-BE had been used in the hydrofracking technique used by EnCana, Canada's biggest energy company, which operates 248 gas wells in the area.
A 44-page EPA report released Aug. 11 did not reach a conclusion about the cause of contamination but named gas drilling as a potential source. It did say, "Many activities in gas well drilling (and) hydraulic fracturing ... involve injecting water and other fluids into the well and have the potential to create cross-contamination of aquifers."
John Fenton, a farmer in Pavillion, a rural community of about 150 people, said that residents blame gas drilling for a range of illnesses including rare cancers, miscarriages and nervous system disorders. Families with contaminated water wells have been advised by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to drink the water, which in some cases was black and oily, with a petroleum-like sheen, and a smell of gas. "The stress is incredible," Fenton told Reuters. "People have built their lives and businesses here. What's it all worth now?"
Will New Yorkers be asking this question if hydrofracking is allowed in New York state?
Kate Ryan
Delhi
Media forgetting Mary Jo Kopechne
I did not think it possible for The Daily Star to lower its standards of decency and fair reporting. I was wrong.
At first, your editorial on Ted Kennedy's death was humorous; it then became infuriating. To say that this "unswerving" politician could build a "bridge" between opponents is a very ironic and clever choice of words, and ultimately very insulting. To make light of the tragedy at Chappaquiddick unnecessarily steps on the grave of Mary Jo Kopechne and is repugnant and vile even for this paper.
To suggest that Kennedy be memorialized by affixing his name to the health care reform bill is further irony; a bill that may allow the government to determine who lives and who dies, who should receive care and who should not, adorned with the name of a politician who acted selfishly in July of 1969, who was a "death panel" of one and sentenced Ms. Kopechne to death.
Had Kennedy and his family's political machine exerted one-tenth the effort into saving Ms. Kopechne as they did in saving his political career, I believe that there is a good chance she would be alive today. My hope is that in his last days and hours, Ted Kennedy was haunted by the memory of Chappaquiddick _ not by what that incident did to his political ambitions but by what he did to that young woman.
Kennedy's career in American politics is commendable as is his passion and dedication to public service. Yet, while you in the local and national media will no doubt laud the tremendous career and mourn the loss of this "political giant" for weeks to come, I have but one question _ who weeps for Mary Jo?
Karl P. Lehenbauer
Worcester
Scripture mustn't dictate public policy
Once again the Rev. Mitch Wright brings his comedy act to the pages of The Daily Star (Aug. 17) and declares that health care reform will make us a socialist, Marxist society and is against the teachings of the Scriptures. The meek shall inherit the Earth, but with no health insurance, right Rev.?
Rev. Wright, like the rest of America's radical right, will use any lie to support his opposition to anything proposed by President Obama. Sarah Palin warns of "death panels" when no such thing exists in any of the proposals. Rep. John Boehner warns of government funding of abortion when that is not a part of any of the plans being considered. At a recent health care forum, one angry participant shouted "keep the government's hands off my Medicare." He was so ignorant that he was unaware that Medicare is a government program, which has worked well in providing care to our over-65 population. Other government health care programs provide care to our under-19 population here in New York (the Child Health Plus Program) and to our veterans through the VA hospitals, without making us a Marxist, socialist state.
The Rev. claims that the Scriptures preach "limited government and taxation, private property (and) free market capitalism" and cites a passage that says we shouldn't steal or covet our neighbor's possessions. Once again, the Rev. has hijacked the religion of millions of Americans to promote his rigid, right-wing ideology.
Religion and the Bible should never dictate public policy. The Rev. Wright would like us to be a Christian theocracy, but that will never happen, despite his absurd rantings.
Mark Lavine
Cooperstown
Racism shown in health care letter
Among the many intemperate, fact-and logic-challenged diatribes that besmirch the letter to the editor page of this paper, the letter by Herbert A. Faulkner on Aug. 28, has to be one of the more disgusting. He writes about some Kenyan villagers who recently burned five elderly people in a bonfire because they were believed to be witches, then implies that President Obama, because he has Kenyan relatives, may have gotten his ideas for health care reform in Kenya.
This is out-and-out racism. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy was an Irish-American. Neither he nor any other Irish-American politician gets accused of being a terrorist or favoring terrorist bombing because of the violent activities of the Irish Republican Army. But somehow an African-American is seen as only a step away from African village life.
On the other hand, there are people in this country who might bear comparison with those Kenyan villagers in cruelty and ruthlessness, prominent among them the health insurance executives who cancel the insurance policies of people who had paid their insurance fees for years but are now guilty of contracting cancer or other severe illnesses and are pestering their insurance company to pay their medical bills.
Cathy Mason
Springfield Center
'Feminazi' doesn't refer to all women
In reference to Ellen Goodman's (From the Left) of Saturday, Aug. 22, my comment is this: Anyone who actually listens to Rush Limbaugh knows that "feminazi" refers to radical, militant feminists, not women in general.
Mr. Limbaugh does not whimper, but Ms. Goodman certainly does whine.
Shirley Niebanck
Delhi
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