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The cover story of the Sun-Gazette on Jan. 6 advised us that we now owe $1,798,700,000 (one billion, seven-hundred-ninety-eight million, seven-hundred-thousand) for damage previously caused by the fossil fuel industry. If you were shocked by that number…just wait. That nearly $2 billion will pale in comparison with the costs now mounting at the hands of the fossil methane (aka fracked gas) industry. These billions will be due and payable by our children and grandchildren.
Many of us who have been paying attention to the realities of fracking Lycoming County's now-permitted 1,781 wells have been watching in horror for the past decade as elected officials continue to hail fossil methane gas as the economic savior of our region and state. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yet we send legislators to Harrisburg who pass laws and grant tax subsidies that allow the health risks and economic consequences of reliance on "natural" gas to not only continue, but increase year after year.
The full economic picture of fracking is as UN-democratic as it gets. Profits are privatized in the hands of the few while billions in costs are dumped on the backs of the many, both now and for generations to come.
Pennsylvania is in a unique position to be a leader in America's transition to a just and sustainable energy economy. Instead, we elect lawmakers who embrace the lies of the industry and ask us to join them in a dance with the dinosaurs, ignoring the consequences.
BARB JARMOSKA
Montoursville
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom