Let's stop splitting hares …

Spectrum, by Roberta Mason

About 10 years ago I spent the winter in Barstow, Calif. While I was there, all construction was shut down to protect the tortoise shell hare. People without jobs left the town in droves, school enrollment dropped by a third and support businesses closed. My daughter's family left but they made payments on a house they could not rent or sell for several years before finally selling it for less than they owed. When I saw a group of people carrying signs, "Protect the Tortoise Shell Hare," I asked them if the tortoise shell hare was a turtle or a rabbit. Not one of them knew.

I came back to Alaska thankful that I lived where people used common sense, listened to reason, discussed issues logically and placed value on both human needs and the environment. Now, for the first time in nearly 40 years of living in Sutton I witnessed the kind of mentality I saw in Barstow and it scared me. My daughter told me 10 years ago, "These protesters are not from Barstow. People in Barstow want to live and work here and have never seen a tortoise shell hare."

Many of the people who were demonstrating and heckling at the meeting with Evergreen in Sutton are not from Sutton either. As a longtime resident of Sutton, I have seen residents work through many issues. Many of our townspeople are opinionated and outspoken, but they have always been able to solve their problems without demonstrating or being rude and inconsiderate. People here worked together peaceably and diligently for five years to develop a comprehensive plan. Though we did not agree on all points in the plan, we were able to compromise and complete it and we were proud of what we did.

In everyday conversations with Suttonites over the last few weeks I had the impression that very few of them were against methane drilling. Most of the people I talked with were keeping an open mind until they knew more about where and how drilling would occur. They were excited about potential jobs and increased business, but cautious about how it might change our community. When I attended meetings, only the people opposed to drilling were heard. At the Sutton meeting with Evergreen, I spoke out because it appeared that some people were there to make sure we did not hear what Evergreen had to say. Many people thanked me at that meeting for speaking out. Many more called me the next day to say thanks.

One of the protesters told me that I was the only person in town who was not dead-set against the drilling. I did not think so and told that person that I thought I could come up with at least 50 people who were not against drilling by the next evening. Wednesday, by 3 p.m., I had signatures from 50 people who were not against drilling. Those signatures came from people I met in three local businesses and from five homes I visited. That evening 12 people who heard from others about my list called to say they wanted to add their signature. I now have 60 names. If I pursued getting signatures, I know that I could gather at least 100, and that is a lot of people in a town this size.

People have complained that they were kept in the dark, not told what was going on in the state Legislature. In this day of instant communications we can be better informed than ever. Everyone in Sutton has access to the Internet, either at home, at the library or at the school. Each of us can read the Alaska State Legislature Bill Action and Status site at http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/start.asp any time. That site has a calendar which displays a list of bills scheduled to be heard on the floor of the House or Senate for a specific date. We can view a list of bills awaiting action on the floor by the House, Senate or by the governor by subject, such as "energy." We can type in the name of a bill and see its history. We can even read the bill in its entirety. We can know what is happening in Juneau almost as soon as it happens. Each senator and representative has a site that tells virtually everything they are doing and tells how to communicate with them by telephone, e-mail or fax. It is our individual responsibility to keep ourselves informed. If we do not take that responsibility, we should not complain.

For example Bill: HB 69 Short Title: Regulation of Shallow Natural Gas was read the first time on Jan. 29, 2003 and signed into law on Aug. 20, 2003. We could have read that bill, told our neighbors and written to our representatives any time in that seven months.

The picture recent media articles haves painted of the people of Sutton does not describe most of us in this small community. Most of us are embarrassed by what we have seen and read and want to apologize for the few who have created this image. We live here because we like the quiet tranquility and beauty that surrounds us. But we need jobs, too, and we are willing to listen to any good offers that could provide those jobs. We are looking for an acceptable balance between the kind of environment we desire and a way to meet our economical needs. Many of us think that Evergreen and coal-bed methane drilling might provide that balance.

Roberta Mason is a resident of Sutton.