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Rules, not prices, cause drop in revenue

Two articles (Herald, May 14) should be read together. Prominently on Page 1 was a story that speaks to decreased drilling for gas leading to declining county revenues (meaning also the loss of well-paying jobs for young folk) and proposed increased in property taxes (also meaning increasing rental or home-purchase costs for young folk). The article then goes on to suggest the declining revenue from gas production are all because of falling gas prices and reduced demand for the product and thus reduced drilling activity. Hogwash (see paragraph 3 below).

Then, tucked away in Section B is an article that speaks to the need for greater, and supposedly better (hah!), government interference and ever-more drilling restrictions and the horrors of unplanned growth.

Well, news-to-you with your myopic view of the environment: Not everyone would agree that all human endeavors in the realm of natural-resource exploitation, by default, is detrimental to the environment. And nowhere does the story speak to probable losses of revenue to property owners, good-paying jobs as opposed to low-paying tourism service wages or the environmental costs of substitute energy sources.

Now, take a quick trip to Roswell or Carlsbad, New Mexico, where even as I write this, drilling is now going full-bore, and I mean full-bore. Motel parking is jammed with pickups loaded with drilling-support equipment, and the surrounding roadways are full of trucks going from drill site to drill site.

In short, with the rise of fracking technology, oil and gas production companies no longer have to go where they are not wanted and can easily take their good-paying jobs for young people and tax revenue elsewhere, either in or out of the country – and are.

So, to all you holier-than-thou folk with, again, your myopic views of the environment and mankind’s place in it, I say do all your homework. Consider at least some of what your actions may mean to others and the inevitable unintended, and often seemingly unrelated, environmental and economic consequences you so conveniently choose to ignore.

James Hanks

Durango



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