Dear Editor:
FYI, this Tuesday at 6 pm as part of the city council meeting there will be a presentation regarding the gas exploration/extraction, i.e. fracking, that has come to our area.
This process of oil/gas extraction has the potential to poison our drinking water (or perhaps simply dry up all of our wells because the process uses so much water to begin with), increase large truck traffic to 100s of rigs per day, release toxic chemicals into the local air we breathe… and that’s just the start.
I like the idea of local energy production, including more jobs for those who could get them, but not at the cost of our health and livelihoods if our air and water become poisoned. We need to learn more.
Tuesday, 6 pm, council chambers at City Hall. Informative presentation and city ordinance proposal.
Also, at the Railroad Blues on July 8th, there will be a film shown, “Gasland,” revealing what has happened in other small communities (from Texas to Colorado to Pennsylvania) after fracking rigs moved in. Some folks can light their kitchen tap water on fire and the drill companies say they are not at fault.
Attached is a fact sheet to help spread the word with email addresses and links for more information. One thing the sheets show is how the geology underneath our area is similar to what is driving the boom up in Midland, Fort Worth, and south TX (including the Barnett and Eagle Ford shales). This seems to be the real deal. Work may already be happening along the railroad line through Alpine for a pipeline from OJ/Presidio north.
Hope to see you Tuesday, and please pass this on… to protect our resources, all of our voices together will be crucial. This is probably just the start. But being aware *now* is critical: once the rock is broken, you can’t put it back together.
Joselyn Fenstermacher
Alpine
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