VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT Better Living Through Plastics By MIKE ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Governor Cuomo is about to extend the temporary ban on fracking in New York and make it permanent via his budget Bill. Some will cheer that action, but those who understand its unintended consequences won’t be among them. Indeed, they will live in fear of another pandemic where we don’t, as a result of his ban, have access to the materials needed to combat any…
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Mike Zagata
VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT Did Anyone, Or Everyone Kill U.S. Pandemic Team? By MIKE ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com A friend of mine commented that he was upset with the president because he had eliminated the Pandemic Response Team (PRT). I didn’t know there was such a thing and I’m guessing that neither did the President. However, the fact that my friend was blaming the President for eliminating it, and then a year or so later having us face a…
VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT NYC Looking Upstate To Solve Its Problems By MICHAEL ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Most of you will recall the contentious debate between those who wanted the right to frack for natural gas beneath their property and those who wanted fracking banned. A foundation paid lawyers to visit towns and help them draft language prohibiting the practice of fracking within their jurisdictions under the aegis of “home rule.” Concerned citizens, fearing ground water contamination, pressured the…
THE VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT $1B In Fracking Royalties? To Penna., Not New York By MIKE ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com As Americans, it’s our right to advocate for things we believe in and against things we don’t like or want. However, with that right comes a responsibility – a responsibility to take the time to thoroughly educate ourselves about the pros and cons of whatever it is we want to advocate for or oppose. That means thinking in advance…
VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT What Was Objectionable In State Of Union Speech? By MIKE ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com This past week we had an opportunity to observe our President highlight his accomplishments and lay out his agenda for next year. Every president does this annually in the State of the Union Address. As is almost always the case, depending on party affiliation, there will be things covered that draw applause and some that draw frowns – and once in…
VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT How To Best Reduce CO2 – Trees Or Solar Panels? As I’m sure many of you did, I read with great interest about the proposal to build a 3,000 acre solar farm near West Laurens. It’s a great opportunity for the affected landowners – much like the Marcellus gas and the Constitution Pipeline would have been for many New York landowners. Why is the solar farm being greeted with enthusiasm while the potential to drill for…
VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT Rising To The Fly By MICHAEL ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Fishermen understand why the brook trout they catch are often smaller than the brown trout they catch. It’s because the brown trout are more discerning about “rising to the fly” and thus falling victim to the fishermen’s net, while brook trout are prone to rise to the first fly they see. There is a lesson there for all of us with regards to how we…
LETTER from BOB EKLUND Praise For Fracking? Let’s Call In Fossil-Fuel Fiction To the Editor: Normally, I would not respond to such pithy paeans of praise to the poison profits of pipelines as recently described by Mr. Zagata (Nov. 28-29) in this space. However, since my name and likeness, along with friend and fellow environmental activist Nicole Dillingham, were used as poster people for the piece, I feel I must. First I must admit surprise at Zagata’s entry into fossil-fuel…
VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT Democratic Intrigues Weave Tangled Web By MIKE ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Speaker Pelosi proudly informed us that she is a Catholic and thus doesn’t hate the President, but she conveniently ignored her pro-choice voting record – even defending the taking of a life about to be born. I think I’d be happier, as a fellow Catholic, if she admitted she hated the President but defended the lives of the unborn. I’d also have more respect…
The View From West Davenport ZAGATA: Fracking Ban Cost County $1B A Year Before getting into what is likely to be a controversial discussion, let’s take a minute to talk about fracking – correctly called hydraulic fracturing. Fracking is a process by which water, sand, and chemicals are injected underground at high pressures to crack open rock formations consisting largely of sand grains that are very tightly packed together, i.e. they have tiny interstitial spaces which are filled with tightly…