Proponents of fracking are either short-sighted or very greedy

To the Editor:

To the proponents of fracking: are you serious?! Expecting people to believe that it's their economic prosperity that you have in mind? What is the true cost of that filthy dollar? What is the true cost for our children's children? Your relatively short-term profit that in reality is for but a greedy few comes at a potentially catastrophic loss of quality of life for thousands, without mentioning non-humans or those yet unborn.

False justifications of money "injected" that will not have any long-term benefit for Appalachian Ohio are no excuse for the "hiccups" of human shortsighted error. When has the extraction of natural resources ever led to long-term economic prosperity for the region from which it comes? In the decrepit old coal towns of Appalachia, the empty factories and all but abandoned towns that were once part of a booming timber industry around the Great Lakes? Drilling and mining indeed has been happening in our region for decades, it's true, yet the area remains the poorest in the state.

Generally when someone comes to town trying to sell everyone on something quick before any potential problems or authorities interfere, they'd rightly be considered swindlers — you know, people trying to rip you off. For those who want to see Ohio sustainably viable, wouldn't it be prudent to wait until reliable assessment studies of hydraulic fracking's potential impacts on the state's holistic well-being to be conclusively complete before moving forward with it? Oh, but I'm forgetting all those great "jobs." Maybe I too can start a lucrative career as a "rig maid." OK, never mind. I'm going to run down and put in my application. We don't need no stinkin' environmental assessment. Regulations schmegulations!

Charles Cook
Athens