To the Editor:
Smiling stranger knocks, paper in hand, fistful of cash, promising  wealth and happiness in exchange for your eternal soul. Not sure you  have one, you sign. Later, the clause is enforced. Deal soured, you lose  all, including your soul, while he cackles gleefully.
What’s in the small print? Gas drilling WILL come to our region -  proximity to the Millennium Pipeline. Strangers WILL promise no harm yet  the land WILL be pierced, punctured, raped, scarred and the quality of  life we enjoy WILL be compromised and we WILL be sacrificed to Mammon.
Air WILL be polluted by trucks and noisy drilling. Water WILL be  poisoned by chemicals the strangers deny using. Some WILL get rich but  won’t be able to occupy their homes without severe risk to their health.  Others won’t be paid but WILL find themselves embroiled in endless  lawsuits with gas companies, their neighbors, the government and  lawyers, who did not protect them after all. Some WILL escape. Others  WILL be trapped by diminished property values. Generations WILL be  sickened. Some WILL die from exposure to pollutants.
Disaster can be averted. Drillers need large leased units to drill.  Without enough signers they may go away. People say, “Everyone has their  price.” I ask, don’t they still love this unspoiled paradise? Would they  sell their lovers for the right price? Would they sell their children? 
For a million bucks would they permit their grandkids to be poisoned?  Would they stand by, for the right price, while their neighbors were  being choked?
We in opposition are too weak to stop this - too much money involved.  Politicians won’t stop it - conflicting loyalties. Legions of dueling  lawyers, won’t stop it - self interest. There is only ONE powerful  enough and in position to save us. That’s YOU, pen in hand, contract on  the table.