Editor’s note: The following letter was sent to the West Milford Town Council.
Dear Town Council:
The gas compressor station at Monksville Reservoir needs to be stopped at once! Please listen to the people you are representing on a day-to-day basis, ones of which are also your neighbors. We do not want this gas compressor station to go through so that we can maintain a healthy lifestyle of which we have worked so hard to uphold. You as our representatives should have our best interests in mind and that does not always mean a dollar amount from which the town will benefit. In this case, I am referring to the quality of life versus the tax dollars you gain to collect.
We have chosen to live in this area for various reasons. Whether we were born and raised here or moved here for the life we chose, we wanted a life that included a clean and healthy way to live and raise families without the threat of toxins nearby that will cause great harm to ourselves and our area. By allowing this gas compressor station to go through, you are turning your back on what you were elected to represent. That is a quality of life that we have all chosen to pay for and uphold. Not only will the decibel level raise noise pollution, but by bringing this compressor station, you will now emit toxins into the air that were not here before, toxins that will have serious health consequences and take a real human toll.
Regardless of how safe a study may deem it overall, releasing toxins into the air will effect all lives here, albeit human or flora and fauna. You will be changing the ecosystems here, which will in turn have an adverse effect on life overall in this area permanently. Look at what has happened to Bearfort Waters, Lake Lookover and the surrounding area. This will be Monksville in a short time to come. You will deplete an area of resources that will not be able to be replenished in a reasonable amount of time, of which many will not see, at a time when we are all looking to do better for the footprint on the environment.
I have to wonder why you would allow a project of this magnitude to happen. Money seems to be the answer time and time again. But no amount of tax dollars to add to our books will ever justify the natural resources and human suffering that will have been taken in the process, resources that cannot be replenished no matter the cost invested. So why is it worth it to take money if the resources will be lost forever, changing healthy life here as we know it.
The federal government can do what they choose with the project, but do you have to be complacent in it, even if the people you represent wholeheartedly disagree? Why is it worth it to you other than for the almighty tax dollar? To say you increased revenue for your town at the expense of your town ‘s people, plant and animal life is not worth the paper on which it is printed. Both Wantage and Ringwood have spoken out against this project and it’s upgrades. Why haven’t you, West Milford? No amount of tax dollars is worth the life at stake!
As representatives, you are elected to represent the people’s voice. I will point out that not all voices are heard for whatever reasons, having life getting in the way of speaking up when something isn’t right. If this project were in your back yard corner of this town, would you be accepting of it? Or would you want your neighbors to speak up rather than quietly go about their lives? Just because you have only heard from a corner of this town does not mean the people have spoken, but rather just some of your neighbors have.
Now is the time to stand up and say No compressor upgrades! No pipeline project! Not here, not in our backyards
!Do what is right for your people. Speak out and fight against the gas compressor station at Monksville Reservoir.
Your neighbor and constituent,
Kerry Drossos
West Milford