Submitted by James Barth, Aug 8, 2008 12:06

It is unfortunate that the New York Sun editorial board gives higher priority to the extraction of between 16.8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and 51.4 tcf of natural gas (between 9 months and 27 months supply at current rates of consumption in the U.S.), than to the protection of the sources of water for more than 25 million Americans. You state "No energy source is without some environmental risks, and it would be logical to take what measures can abate or minimize them in the case of the Marcellus Shale." Then, you go on to describe those who attempt to do that very thing as "nervous Nellies."

To be blunt, you don't have to be a genius to figure out why the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress pushed to exempt the drilling companies from the environmental restrictions that protect our drinking water, land and air by the passage of the energy bill in July 2005. It is precisely because drilling for natural gas in unconventional plays such as the Marcellus can not meet those protective environmental standards. Furthermore, it is the reason why the chemicals used in the fracturing process have been allowed to remain proprietary and secret. They are toxic and carcinogenic. The exemptions given to the energy companies in 2005 need to be reversed, the restrictions re-instated, the fracturing chemicals made public, and environmental impact studies must be performed. Until then, no drilling should be allowed in our watershed areas.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.