When asked to weigh in on whether he supports hydraulic fracturing (a controversial method of extracting natural gas from below the earth's surface), New York candidate for governor Carl Paladino said recently, "Not necessarily in the watershed area for New York City but certainly to the west of it."
He'd like to wait until more risk-assessment data come in before giving the go-ahead for fracking where it could harm lots of folks. "We don't want to take any risks in the watershed area [of New York City]," he said.
Looks like Paladino is already itchin' to leave behind his Buffalo roots.
The obvious and inhumane logic at work here is that the lives and well being of rural and suburban residents matter less than the lives of those who live on the isle of dollars. There may be nothing fallacious about his thinking. More likely, it's the kind of unapologetic mercantile reasoning that can dismiss loss of life, or quality of life, as a negative externality to be made up elsewhere on the ledger.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
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