Commissioners betraying citizens on fracking issue

I am writing in concern to a letter that was signed at the Jan. 10 Allegany County Commissioners meeting.

All three Garrett County commissioners have already signed this and last night Allegany County commissioners did the same.The letter is to Gov. Martin O’Malley urging him to expedite hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Allegany and Garrett counties.

I feel very betrayed that my elected officials would push for such a bad thing without any public input on such an issue. One needs only to look to Pennsylvania to see the damage that the practice of fracking has caused.

Dimock, Pa., had its water supply ruined in 2008 from fracking and the residents have had to rely on the federal government to ship water in ever since. There are many other cases of water being contaminated in Pennsylvania and other states.

Also in recent months, Oklahoma, Ohio and most recently West Virginia have had earthquakes which scientists are saying come from fracking.

If fracking is so safe then way hasn’t the gas industry released to the public a complete list of chemicals used in the process?

Other bad effects that come from fracking include damage to the secondary roads from increased heavy truck traffic.The taxpayers are the ones who will be paying for such repairs.

The gas industry promises many jobs, but in fact produces few.

I could go on, but my purpose of this letter is to let the public know what their elected officials are doing without their knowledge. I feel the commissioners are thinking dollar signs and not about the long term effects this may have on the communities where this would take place.

In closing I would like to say that the citizens of Allegany and Garrett counties should have a vote and the final say on this hydraulic fracturing and not a handful of politicians who stand to gain a few dollars from it! Remember “You Can’t Drink Money.”

Shannon Winter

Cresaptown

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