ELECTION LETTERS
The Denton Record-Chronicle welcomes letters to the editor pertaining to the Nov. 4 general election. All regular submission rules apply. Letters concerning statewide races and local propositions on the Nov. 4 ballot must be received in this office by 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24. None will be published after Friday, Oct. 31.
Global warming?
Dallas-Fort Worth has had the coldest summer in a decade. We now have 215 months of no warming trend, according to satellite data. Kids graduating from high school this year have not experienced any global warming in their lifetimes.
As late as 2009, citing “climate experts,” Al Gore warned us that the Arctic would be ice-free by 2013. Instead, the Arctic is in the normal range and the Antarctic is at record high ice extent.
The president and Secretary of State John Kerry both claim global warming is the greatest threat that we now face. Hillary Clinton also agreed. Americans rate global warming as a very low priority. So, to help get more support, the secretary of state is looking to a higher power.
On Sept. 3, Kerry “jumped the shark” by invoking the Bible and said the United States has a “biblical responsibility” to “confront climate change,” including protecting “vulnerable Muslim majority countries.” Are they nuts? When did the U.S. become a theocracy?
So what’s the president’s latest plan? A campaign to shame all countries that do not meet CO2 reduction targets based on a treaty that was never ratified by the Senate.
Phillip Sweet,
Denton
Use common sense
Many state opinions that the fracking ban in Denton will not prevent drilling for gas, just that the land owners and drilling operators cannot use fracking technology. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If these letter writers had bothered to attend any fracking forums recently, they would know the facts.
Preventing a land owner or operator from fracking is the equivalent of the government telling you that you can purchase a car but are not allowed to drive it. This is environmental madness taken to the extreme.
No one would be stupid enough to drill for natural gas without fracking the well, as the net result would be a totally uncompetitive production cost.
This means plenty of lawsuits to be paid for by Denton residents.
Natural gas prices are currently in the range of $4 per MMBtu. Remember natural gas prices when they were in the range of $12 to $15 per MMBtu?
That’s where we would go with a nationwide fracking ban. How would Denton residents enjoy paying three times the cost to heat and cool their houses?
It’s unfortunate so many sensible people are taken in by the far left environmental nut cases and are buying into their propaganda.
There is plenty of evidence from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to ensure Denton residents that fracking does not impair the air and water quality in our neighborhoods.
It is not only a matter of increasing costs and property taxes. It is a matter of common sense.
Rudy Cajka,
Denton
No need to rush
On Oct. 15 my name appeared in this newspaper among a list of people who signed a petition opposing the proposed fracking ban. A man pitched a balanced approach to fracking. I fell for it and regret signing on.
The well-known Texas humorist Kinky Friedman likes to say that Texas is of, by and for the money. The cost, scale and tactics of the effort to disapprove the ban provide ample support for that viewpoint.
The claimed costs and consequences of approving the ban are brazenly intended to produce fear. They are made by organizations with clearly vested interests and, so far as I can ascertain, are not supported by competent and objective third-party analysis.
The issue surrounding the proposed ban is not a legal one. It is not a court case in which a position must prevail based only on objective and unimpeachable evidence. There is no such evidence.
There are sufficient signs and clues from other areas of the country that fracking may cause serious long-lasting problems, especially with respect to safety of the water supply and stability of the land.
People are sensible to express concern for their safety and economic welfare through their vote. The facts are not yet decided and there is no real reason to proceed with fracking.
Our country is at long last energy independent. There is no need to rush. We can frack at any time in the future if it is objectively demonstrated to be safe.
David P. Higgins,
Denton
Fracking benzene risks low
Of all the alleged adverse impacts attributed to fracking (and subsequent development of natural gas resources), air emissions of benzene have received the most press. In fact, the emissions of benzene from natural gas production activities, compared to other potential sources, are minimal.
Benzene is found in urban air, primarily due to vehicle emissions and fugitive emissions from service stations.
The large majority of benzene concentrations recorded by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in the vicinity of natural gas production sites within the Denton city limits are below the long-term health comparison value of 1.4 parts per billion (ppb).
Occasional excursions above the long-term health value have not exceeded the short-term health value.
Given that the benzene content of gasoline averages 1.0 percent by weight (equivalent to 10,000 parts per million (ppm), or 10,000,000 ppb), potential for benzene exposure is much greater when fueling a vehicle (or boat, lawn mower, chain saw) than it would be breathing air in the vicinity of a natural gas well.
I live on the west side of Denton, and have an active natural gas well 500 feet off my rear property line. I have lived with the installation and operation of this well, and it is no big deal. I do not own my mineral rights, and have no vested interest in drilling within city limits.
I also do not begrudge the prosperity of neighbors who have profited from development of natural gas resources.
I know taxes paid by land owners and energy companies have greatly benefited city coffers.
Dennis Howard,
Denton
True colors
The DRC has finally joined the fracking ranks by its support to defeat a fracking ban. Your true corporate colors, blood red.
Global climate change is real; many ignore it. The use of fossil fuels for 100 years is destroying our planet’s natural ability to heal. Weather patterns shift, water pollution is at an all-time high; air pollution in this part of Texas, alone, is off the charts.
Is this how we take care of our home? This is our home. We all live on this rock called Earth. We can’t just jaunt to another home after we’ve destroyed this one, like moving to a newer neighborhood. You wreck your house, you have no house.
Big Oil and Gas will stop at nothing to ensure corporate profits. The short-term greed of these corporations will be our home’s undoing.
In Shanghai, China, the air quality is so bad people wear masks and children have never seen the stars because they are obscured by pollution. China, like Big Oil and Gas, doesn’t care about you, or our home (this planet) or our children.
Like the DRC, money is all that matters to them, their profits. Renewable energy is clean, safe, non-polluting. Dump Dino and ban fracking.
J. Aaron Cundall,
Denton
Constitutional rights
Anti-fracking drilling folks are quick to point out that they support drilling, but not hydraulic fracturing.
This is simply not possible — you can’t effectively drill in the Barnett Shale without fracking, so without it, no new drilling will take place. Maybe that job-killing consequence is what they really want?
Many people believe that passing a ban on the upcoming ballot will all of the sudden shut down projects already in existence. That is not true.
We live in a society governed by our Constitution and it doesn’t allow for retroactively taking away previously granted rights. If this were not so, we could decide to take away the votes of women or minorities, for instance.
As a voter in the upcoming election, please ask yourself, are you willing to sacrifice your private property rights to a group of extreme environmentalists who are funded by the radical group Earthworks from Washington, D.C.?
Perhaps the next ballot measure might ban those “gas guzzling” SUVs or two-story houses for having two air conditioners?
Sounds crazy, but give control to local extremists who collect signatures and who wish to cripple if not outright kill the job-creating natural gas industry, then what do you think they will want to ban next?
Josh McDaniel,
Denton
Nonpartisan zoning issue
The local Republican Party will soon be wondering why a city that consistently votes with it members 2-to-1 nevertheless approved a ban on fracking. So, I’ll do them a favor and explain why they lost my vote.
Opponents of the ban portraying themselves as patriots standing firm against environmentalist wackos have completely missed the point.
For me, this is a nonpartisan zoning issue: Heavy industry shouldn’t operate near residential areas. No other business can set up shop anywhere it wishes, blatantly defying local ordinances.
At the City Council last July, multiple representatives of the oil and gas industry offered to collaboratively develop fracking guidelines acceptable to both sides.
Since then, I’ve been waiting for their counterproposal — maybe something like “Henceforth, we will comply with the letter and spirit of all city ordinances, and rogue operators will be fined $10,000 per day of noncompliance.”
However, a substantial counterproposal was never offered. Instead, the industry’s rhetoric reveals no desire to change the status quo, including responsibly fracking across the street from playgrounds and established neighborhoods.
Since the status quo is unacceptable and the industry is demonstrably unserious about resolving its differences with the city, I’m voting for the ban.
John Quintanilla,
Denton
Vote to ban fracking
Our Denton County Republican Party and Denton Chamber of Commerce officially trumpet a core belief of being for local control and against outside, big government control and interference in local choices.
However, when it comes to a local issue of fracking within our Denton city limits, they suddenly do not support local, Denton citizens deciding our local issues.
Instead, they want big, state government to control us and our local decisions.
Why, oh why, is this? Does it show who really controls and owns the Republican Party, i.e. big, rich oil corporations and corporate money? Are dollars more important than people?
I really do hope not. We’ll see on Nov. 4.
Let’s plant more health-giving trees, not more poisonous, fracking wells in our crowded city.
This is not a political party issue; it is a healthy, livable environment issue that impacts the future of all our kids and adults. Please vote to ban fracking in our city limits.
Lloyd Sanborn,
Denton
