Study is misleading
Your Dec. 20 story on a study suggesting that an increase in crime and traffic deaths can be linked to Marcellus Shale drilling was woefully misleading.
The author of the study, and the group he represents, have their own agenda that desires to tie negative consequences to the increase in Marcellus Shale drilling. Most of these workers are decent men and women trying to make a living. The increase in burglary and violent crime is much more tied to the heroin epidemic in this area, as both Marjorie Fox, Greene County’s district attorney, mentions in the article and your own newspaper has covered extensively.
Of greater concern is the rise in traffic fatalities, which may more reasonably be related to the increase in traffic associated with drilling activity. Our police officers should be enabled to spend more time and energy monitoring traffic and issuing citations. Many residents of Greene County have been in close calls with speeding trucks, and some have been fatal. I would ask that our elected representatives spend some of the economic benefits they have reaped on making our roads safer for all.
Becky Butler Kromar
Waynesburg