Keep Your Gifts—Give Us Back Our Land

Have you noticed all the Marcellus shale gas industry image-improving efforts? They're nothing but Faustian gestures, offered with the industry's hope that residents are nothing but gullible gudgeons.

"Hey! Look at us! We're giving you a free ice rink in Jersey Shore; we're donating money to Clinton County Cleanscapes; we're the only platinum and gold sponsors of the yearly Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors; we're donating to many local charities and service organizations! Aren't we wonderful?

"All that we expect of you is that you worship us with your souls. Forget that we are making Swiss cheese out of your earth; that we are clear-cutting your forestland; that we are polluting your waters, land and air; that we are scaring the hell out of your wildlife; that we are turning your once quiet, two-lane, rural roads into noisy, dangerous, industrial highways; that we are transmogrifying your lifestyles without your consent."

Well, here's what I say: Keep your damned gifts and money! Instead, depart from this land, which you are thoughtlessly and uncaringly raping and destroying--all in the worship of Mammon--and give us back the once sacred forests, clean waters and air, and serene lifestyles that we loved so much before your unconscionable and unholy invasion.