In a response to Melinda Zemper’s March 31 Ideas & Voices column “Dirty and Dangerous Fracking Coming to Public Lands,” Cheri Hill accused the writer of “plenty of hysteria” about oil and gas production in Ohio. There’s no hysteria in Zemper’s concerns. Science has given us plenty of evidence of serious problems with fracking. Expanding it under public lands as HB 507 does is simply not good resource management. Hill takes comfort saying Ohio’s oil industry standards go beyond what the feds require. But that means nothing because the feds leave it to the states to oversee this mostly unregulated business. If it wants to be a good neighbor, as Hill reassures us, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association should make its members disclose the ingredients of fracking fluid and wastewater brine which they inject under Ohio. The United States meets our current and future natural gas needs with the wells already in production. We don’t need now to endanger our Ohio parks and public lands. The fossil fuel industry wants to wring out the last drop of profit from a dirty energy source before it’s replaced by greener alternatives. Could the majority in the State Assembly also be trying to wring out dark campaign money for themselves by compromising our public lands? Fracking impacts our land, our health, and our climate. Concerns about public land use are wisdom and good stewardship, not hysteria.
- Dave Spurrier, Hamilton
I wish people would admit that even very healthy people can get angry or fearful at day-to-day issues and now that they have a gun, the easy answer is to just shoot. It’s a new mindset in our society. In the past, it would be yelling, cursing and shoving, or calling the police. But with a gun available, it is too easy for the person with the gun. That isn’t just a mental health issue. It is attitudes, poor judgement and availability of an easy solution with a gun. Now we can’t even verbally defend ourselves because we might get shot if we make someone angry. I feel one huge underlying issue is accessibility. We are in an age of fear, and guns don’t help the situation. People who don’t have good judgement skills or have poor impulse control don’t need access to guns. It’s just too easy. Personally, I felt safer when only the ‘bad’ people had guns. Back then, we could feel free to express our feelings without fear of being killed or shot. We could accidentally open the wrong car door, go to the wrong house, or work in our yard without getting shot. There is no easy answer, but maybe we start with loving one another and accepting those different than us. Maybe we teach patience and taking time to think before we act.
- Joy Beery, Pleasant Hill