Writer sees threats in Evergreen's rhetoric

Spectrum, by Laura Coleman

I was recently warned to pay attention to what was going on in the Valley relating to this drilling for methane. I am sorry now that I did not pay attention much earlier. If this many people are upset then there must be a problem. If gas companies have to spend money for commercials to tell you what good people they are, then something must be up. Quite frankly our so-called representatives have been letting us down for some time. I usually believe there is little we can do anyway. But these things have me more than concerned.

I have been saving my money to by my own land and have chosen the Valley as the place I would like to live. I am so glad that I have not put down any money on land here. If those politicians think I am going to put my hard-earned money on a piece of leased land, they are crazy. I find it hard to believe that our politicians have allowed this insult to befall us in our borough.

I just finished reading Mark Sexton's Spectrum piece. I do not know if anyone else noticed but there are a couple veiled threats, carefully worded, but there just the same. He is saying that if things don't go the company's way that they will pull out of the Valley. He also intimated that the U.S. attorney general may "litigate" us somehow on their behalf. I was warned to beware of the coming threats. I see both of these as just that, threats. The real threat is from the people that invited these guys here in the first place.

Scott Ogan pretending as if $45,000 from Evergreen is not a conflict of interest is bad enough. Vic Kohring and the others are no less at fault. I signed a petition today to have the right to vote away the recent huge increases in campaign contributions. These raises in contributions were voted in by almost the same people that brought the gas men in and took away local control of them. This money is part of the problem. Regular people can not hope to contribute these big sums that buy off our politicians and allow these things to happen. Thank God the Supreme Court dropped the gas company's appeal, and that the polluted water they create can be regulated under the Clean Water Act. So regulation is possible after all.

When the gas is gone so will be Evergreen. When the water is gone or is polluted, we can not live. Water is far more important than Evergreen making multi-millions. I understand it breaks down as such: 87.5 percent for Evergreen 12.5 percent to the state and nothing for the property owner. My 12-year-old son could have worked out a better deal. Give us a break! And Mr. Sexton that would be property owners, not surface owners. We the people of the state as a whole own the subsurface, too. Even though you managed to get the politicians to let you at it. Nineteen senators that do not represent us very well.

Laura Coleman is a Wasilla resident.