If it was, I'd have 6-point-something votes, but it doesn't work that way and shouldn't work that way.
Marie McRae's letter last week really sums up the politics around gas drilling in Dryden for me:
According to publicly available statistics, 7 percent of the adult residents of Dryden have signed contracts with gas companies for extraction of methane gas (a.k.a. natural gas) from under the land. A mere 7 percent!
One hundred percent of Dryden residents will be affected if heavy industry comes to Dryden. Make no mistake — gas drilling is a very heavy-duty industrial process.
I understand the importance of protecting minority rights, and I understand the importance of protecting property rights. I don't believe, though, that we should protect only the property rights of a small group of people who hope to make a lot of money against the property rights of a much larger number of people who live here.
That's not protecting a minority from the majority, nor is it protecting property rights. Allowing hydrofracking here would be granting a privilege to damage the entire town in ways that will only benefit a few.
Posted by simon at October 6, 2011 12:17 PM in energy