Sunday Opinion: Energy, town hall meetings and Welcome back students!
Morning, folks. You’re either completely distracted by Hurricane Irene, or you’re trapped inside eager for the diversion of the weekend opinion pages. So let’s have at it.
The Glens Falls Post Star decries the lack of a coherent, logical national energy policy, pointing to the starkly diverging views of Rep. Chris Gibson and environmentalist Bill McKibben, and to the fierce disputs over development of New York’s Marcellus Shale gas deposits.
With all this uncertainty and disagreement over fuel estimates, sources and priorities, it’s no wonder we’re still captive to the Middle East.
Better science and more effective leadership are the only way we’re going to claw out of our energy quagmire. Until we get both, we’ll just keep twisting in the wind.
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise, meanwhile, chimes in that “hydrofracking” in the Marchellus Shale “leaves a bad taste in our mouth.”
The New York Times reviewed documents and reported in a series that the wastewater that comes back to the surface can be highly radioactive and inadequately treated and was then discharged back into rivers that supply drinking water. These downstream water supplies have not been required to test water sources for radioactivity, despite the known health threats and federal regulations.
The Watertown Daily Times notes that Congress is more unpopular than ever — with approval ratings around 13% — and that means lawmakers are holding fewer town hall meetings.
Members of Congress are seeking more controlled environments where they may talk and listen to constituents. Wide-open public meetings that can erupt into face-to-face confrontations are out for now.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said recently that he knows people want to “express frustration.”
“By the way, 10 percent of the American people, I understand, approve of the Congress. Not one in that 10 percent has attended one of my town hall meetings,” he joked on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Speaking of nervous encounters, the Plattsburgh Press Republican is urging locals — and local businesses — to put out the welcome sign for returning Plattsburgh State students.
If the community shows respect for the students and what they add to Plattsburgh and if the students return that consideration for the people who live here, it can indeed be a good school year for all.
