To the Editor:

The letter writer on fracking in the Sept. 17-23 issue of The Smoky Mountain News appears to have been influenced by the bombastic and fictional style of the extreme right. He begins by demeaning those who are critical of fracking and suggests they are un-American. 

The truth is that fracking and the related drilling have been shown to cause contamination of ground water and earthquakes in at least three different states. Some of these effects are noted as much as 15 to 20 miles from the drilling site. Concerns about fracking are neither “hysterical” nor “unpatriotic” as the writer asserts. The concerns are based on facts, not propaganda of oil and gas companies.

Hysteria did not “prevent” development of nuclear power. The valid environmental concerns (Three Mile Island in the U.S., Chernobyl in Russia) and costs of not just safe construction of plants but also disposal of nuclear wastes caused nuclear energy to be economically uncompetitive. Maybe the writer would volunteer to store some nuclear wastes in his basement since the government can’t seem to find a place to put it.

The writer claimed that “… someone would go insane …” from the noise wind farms generate. I have actually visited a wind farm in Illinois some years ago and did not hear any bothersome or even noticeable noise from the big turbines. Maybe the writer should visit such a farm, or maybe his hearing is more acute.

The discussion needs more facts and less ad hominem attacks.  

Norman G. Hoffman, Ph.D.

Waynesville