LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- April 29, 2008
To The Editor;
Aren't these Petrobank people the same bunch of pirates we ran out of town on a rail about 4 years ago?
One of my family members attended their very top-heavy open house at the Legion, and could not get any of these earnest salesmen to tell her that theirs was a 100 percent risk free operation.
What's at stake? Just our municipal and private well water. Just wildlife habitat and unpolluted streams, lakes and acquifers.
I feel sorry for the land owners who leased well sites to these villains. It takes networks of roads and pipelines to service these wells...their land and landscape will be trashed. Land owners in Montana and Colorado have lost their home wells because of methane pollution. Lakes and ponds have become polluted hazards because of methane and chemical pollution due to coal bed methane wells.
I hope you all enjoy your $20,000 or whatever you got for those leases, because when you try to sell your land and move away because you can't water your livestock or drink a glass of well water anymore, your land won't be worth a fiddler's you-know-what on the real estate market anymore.
I can't believe that our municipal and regional elected politicians continued to negotiate with these shysters after the community banded together four years ago to get rid of them. What were you thinking?
- Jim Robinson, Princeton
(Editor's Note: Petrobank was never 'run out of town on a rail' and in fact, reached total depth of their first well on November 24, 2004. They have a website with more information located at www.petrobank.com/princeton. They intend to drill two more wells by August 2008).
To The Editor;
As a brand new resident of Princeton, I am horrified to find my new community facing destruction at the hands of coal bed methane extractors like Petrobank.
I moved here for good business opportunities, clean air, clean water and outdoor lifestyle. An operation like coal bed methane threatens these values.
There's a lot of opposition to coal bed methane in BC right now...particularly in the northern part of the province. Don't believe the companies when they say this is safe. It isn't safe. It's risky.
It destroys rural values, disrupts the wildlife habitat and green spaces, threatens our waterways and our drinking water. For another look at the situation, other than the hype Petrobank gave out last Wednesday, try this link on your computer:
http://www.cbmwatch.ca/news.shtml
And have a look at this: http://www.concernedaboutcbm.org/cbm/
These websites tell the story about how ordinary people like us have had to fight like crazy to keep their water from being polluted by methane, and keep these big energy companies from ruining our lives.
Ask Petrobank where all this methane energy is going. It's going to the States. It's not going to be warming or powering your home or mine here in Princeton. All we are going to be stuck with at the end of it all is the mess.
- Mat Kagis, Princeton
