There was an article in Wednesday’s edition of the Corning Leader, in which State Senator George Winner takes shots at Congressman Eric Massa for “withholding information” related to Chesapeake’s pending application to dispose of toxic wastewater in a retired natural gas well in Pulteney. I was at the meeting in Pulteney to educate myself about the proposal, and its possible environmental impacts on the residents of the Town of Prattsburgh. Geologically speaking, the proposed injection well is quite close our municipal drinking water aquifer. Also, many of us in Prattsburgh are concerned about future similar applications in our town.
If Mr. Winner had taken an interest and attended the meeting, he would have known that Mr. Massa not only divulged the information he speaks of, but copies of the letter he quoted were provided to the folks in attendance.
I am adamantly conservative, and a registered Republican. I disagree fundamentally with Congressman Massa on many major issues. However, he has shown himself to be a man of integrity, and as our representative, he has also shown a willingness to educate himself thoroughly about the issues facing his constituents. His voting record bears the proof that he is not beholden to any party or industry. Unlike Mr. Winner, he has chosen not to bury his head in the sand, and give free reign to huge corporations looking to exploit the resources of our region.
While Mr. Winner is willing to accept the word of the company that they probably won’t need the well, Eric Massa realizes that if they definitely didn’t need it, they wouldn’t have made the application.
There aren’t too many people I know that wouldn’t want to find a way to responsibly harness both the gas below us and the wind above us. The key word is responsibly. It is possible to favor wind development in our area, and oppose the siting of 425’ turbines 500’ from property lines. It is possible to favor natural gas drilling, but demand that our water supply not be poisoned in the process.
We need more representatives like Congressman Massa, and less like Mr. Winner and the rest of the folks that have been in Albany and Washington for way too long.
Steven R. Kula
Town Councilman
Town of Prattsburgh
