In his response to Jeremy Moule's article "Gas Well Impacts Add Up" (December 28), Lenape Resources president John Holko wrote: "Yes, an amped-up natural gas industry will increase truck traffic. However, the operator is required to repair all roads where damage is caused, and in most cases post bonds." (Feedback, January 11) Holko then complained that Moule failed to consult "credible sources from the natural-gas industry."

While it's true that no one has a right to destroy public property (roads, e.g.), and that theoretically those who do destroy such property can be held responsible for the cost of repairs, the reality is a bit more complicated than Mr. Holko indicates.

To begin with, the road "agreements" that gas corporations sometimes enter into are just what the label implies: voluntary contracts. Some companies enter into them, and some do not. And even if a company chooses to do so, proving responsibility for road damage is extremely difficult: "My company's truck didn't do the damage; it just happened to be the last vehicle to use the road before it collapsed."

And if that argument fails, a company can evade liability by claiming that "the road was X years old and already badly deteriorated before my trucks even began using it," or that "the road was improperly constructed to begin with, so it's not my fault that it failed when my trucks used it." Thus suing to collect on a bond is exceedingly difficult, leaving municipalities vulnerable to exorbitant road repair expenses.

Moreover, a bond is not a pot of money put up in advance by the company, which a municipality could conceivably hold onto as collateral in the case of damage to its roads. Rather, it is a contract stipulating that the company must pay for repairs only if damages can be proven. As noted above, proving damages is no easy task.

In addition to oversimplifying the liability issue, Mr. Holko ignores the potential magnitude of increased truck traffic. It takes approximately 1,000 round-trip truck trips to frack a single lateral, and each well pad can have dozens of laterals. Thus a single pad with 20 laterals may generate as many as 40,000 drive-bys.

Monroe County residents need to imagine what that might look, sound, and smell like when they attempt to vacation in the Finger Lakes, or simply drive to work in the morning. They also need to understand that the resulting massive increases in ground-level ozone, repeated exposure to which can cause permanent lung damage and aggravate existing respiratory ailments, can travel up to 200 miles from the point of origin.

If Mr. Holko wants to ensure that the fracking debate serves the public interest, he will surely want to include such pertinent information in his future statements. And if he is genuinely interested in ensuring that the debate is informed by "credible sources," he will insist that such sources be truly independent - i.e., without a financial interest in the outcome - rather than being representatives from the gas industry and its lobbying groups, or academics conducting industry-funded studies.

JORDAN KLEIMAN, RUSH

Kleiman is co-founder of Rush Citizens Concerned About Hydrofracking and is an associate professor of history at SUNY-Geneseo.