This is a letter I modified to the President. The first few paragraphs are mine. The rest are the NRDC
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President Obama,
I have been going to and enjoying the visual, aural, and scent solitude of these lands for over 50 years. I shared that with my children. I want to share it with my grandchildren. Fracking, drilling, etc. will destroy the last vestiges of my rights to enjoy the lands set aside for the public to enjoy. It does not belong to the energy companies to destroy the solitude and beauty that we need for the physical and emotional health of this country.
Not everyone loves living and spending time in the cities. Many of us cannot afford to take trips to exotic places that the CEOs can assuming they want to. These are the last places that the middle and lower classes can consider their refuge.
I have already seen mountaintops where I used to hike and camp disappear. I have gone back to remote areas that were once silent and pristine to find distant noise and reduced visibility and no trespassing notices.
I’m writing to urge you not to allow oil and gas companies to frack in our national forests and near our national parks.
These are America’s best and most unique places and they should be kept safe for future generations.
You can just imagine the impact on wildlife and rivers and streams if we allow the industry to bulldoze their way into publicly owned forests, inject tons of chemical-laden water into the land, fracture the rock deep beneath the surface, and truck out highly toxic wastewater, all while spewing diesel fumes and climate-changing methane into the air.
Please declare our nation’s parks and forests safe from fracking.
Steven Herrnstadt
"resident mammal"
University Professor
Professor, Industrial Design
Director of Graduate Education
Iowa State University