Fracking should wait for safer methods
We support a moratorium on hydrofracking for natural gas in Otego. The current method being used to extract the gas poses a serious risk to our water.
Recently we woke up one Sunday morning to a flood in our basement. The cellar, large family room and hallway were flooded with water from a broken pipe.
The break was in the same place where it had been broken nine months ago and "fixed" by a local plumber. The new plumber said the first plumber had used "inferior products" to fix the leak. Sound familiar?
When we pulled up our ruined carpet, the cement floor had many cracks in it. Sound familiar? How long do you think the cement casings used in the natural gas wells will hold? One month, one year, five years?
Eventually we believe many will be compromised by the fracking fluid that is left in the ground. We will be able to fix the problems in our house caused by shoddy workmanship, but we will not be able to fix ruined water.
We believe that over time the foolhardiness of hydrofracking will be clear. Let's hold off until a safer method can be found to extract natural gas.
Judy and John Ahearn
Otego
'Big Gulp' ban misses the nutritional point
I get a kick out of the recent action of New York City to ban big sugary drinks. Doesn't anyone read labels anymore? There is no sugar in these sweet drinks. What there is, is high-fructose corn syrup, and that is the cause of obesity and a huge increase in childhood diabetics.
Eating sugar causes an insulin response in the body so that the sugar is metabolized and not stored as fat. High-fructose corn syrup does not trigger an insulin response and is thus stored as fat.
Why do manufactures use high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar? Answer: corn is cheap, sugar is expensive. End of story.
Gerald L. Wood
Colliersville
