Astonishing, but true – I’m blogging!! Yes, after months of “never having time” (which, even when the reasons are perfectly legitimate, makes one feel somehow remiss), and due to an excessive imbibing of that most regrettable of mixtures, wine and beer (definitely more fun in the consuming than in the inevitable payback), which has prevented me from going to my friend Monette’s Creek Clean-up (so much for my “dedicated environmentalist” image) - when the mere quest to be vertical for any significant length of time has caused hellish and previously unimagined upheaval from within (storms now beginning to recede gradually, taking with them every last ounce of unclaimed material once destined for cellular assignment by my digestive tract) – I have decided this to be the perfect time to reinstate myself as “one who blogs”. Perverse, perhaps – but there it is. Numerous of my remaining, alcohol addled brain cells may be shouting in shocked protest – but alas! Onward! To wit I aspire…
There was a recent article (4/7/09) in the Tennessean penned by Anne Paine, environmental journalist extraordinaire and recent guest on our show, talking about University of Tennessee’s intention to requisition a portion of their beautiful, pristine wooded acreage for shale drilling by CNX, a natural gas company based in Pittsburgh that is part of the coal company Consol Energy, in the hopes of some meager, fractional compensation for a $100 million cut in state funding, which also comes at a time of declining student enrollment revenue.
To read this account - especially in light of the relatively small monetary gain to be made (approximately $300K annually) in proportion to the hugely significant amount of land to be conscripted for this purpose (8,600 acres), sends shudders of horror down my spine!! I completely understand that the university needs funds right now in order to stay afloat, and that this appears to be a possible, temporary source for these funds. But surely there is another, saner answer to UT’s dilemma than the destruction of one more irreplaceable tract of Tennessee’s rapidly diminishing forestland, one more precious wildlife habitat, one more intact ecosystem for which the value to us all can never really be overestimated! Have we, as a society (represented here by the “Powers That Be” at ol’ UT) become so complacent in our alienation from the planetary ecology that is our life’s blood, so desperate in our need for immediate gratification of a perceived need as to readily seize it by conquest rather than find it through faith in a better solution, and so utterly devoid of creative problem solving ability that this can somehow be seen as a reasonable exchange? If that’s true, then the cynics are right - it really is too late for us.
The State Building Commission is reported to be considering this plan for approval on April 20th. School spokesman Hank Dye stated that the drilling would be done “with sensitivity to the environment” and that “every state regulation would be in play”, but it is truly a fool’s game to think that such an undertaking can be accomplished without irrevocable environmental damage and loss as well as serious potential contamination of natural aquifers and, ultimately, our water supply.
If you have somehow managed to stumble upon this humble blog (I’m into silly rhymes today), and find yourself in agreement at the cruel absurdity of this proposal, I strongly encourage you to a.) read the full article HERE, and b.) join me in diplomatically expressing your protest - whether by phone, email, or letter - to both Hank Dye and the State Building Commission. If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
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