Comment by imroot | Hacker News Reader

Comment by imroot | Hacker News Reader

I grew up in Noble County, Ohio (next to Belmont County) and still get the weekly newspaper delivered to me via mail.

There were exactly zero write-ups of this in the local papers.

The Radio stations in the area are generally owned by one entity (AVC Communications), and there really isn't a lot on their website about it: not really surprising, because 25+ years ago they went Satellite Only and only someone in the news room from 6A-4P.

My biggest complaints about the Oil and Gas industry taking the SE Ohio area and turning it into a cash cow are two-fold: 1.) We're basically treating nature like a resource and stripping it all back to nothing (like AEP did in the 60's and 70's), and 2.) this has basically zero benefit to the locals: most of the jobs in the Oil and Gas industry are specialized and workers imported (leading to stories of welders making $140/hour in Ohio: just simply not true).

I could go on and on about growing up in the second poorest county in Ohio, but, I'll just leave it at this: not surprised that it happened but very surprised that nobody has really reported on this until now.

But to even question this in today's political world makes you a liberal agitator. I wish I knew how we could reframe these issues as "proper stewardship of our commons" vs. "but we need the jobs now!"

> I wish I knew how we could reframe these issues as "proper stewardship of our commons" vs. "but we need the jobs now!"

You can't, because it's purposely framed that way. You think the ones starting that think they're actually bringing jobs back? Hell no, they just say it b/c I'm sure they're getting benefits and contributions from the oil/gas companies, and unfortunately much of the less educated people in these areas aren't the wiser.

I'm sure this is another reason for systemic neglect of the education system. Less educated people are easier to control and brainwash.

It's ironic that “liberal” means “left of centre” in US politics, because it's liberalism in the classical sense that is the ideology behind so much of the destruction of the commons.

And also the ideology that has lifted half of the world's poor out of extreme poverty just since 2010 (not to mention the changes over the last century) so maybe we could give it a little credit.

In American politics you don't even need to deliver on the jobs. You can just make some shit up and blame everybody's problems on something else (e.g. free trade, immigrants) and then whip up a frenzy and never deliver. But even after consistently never delivering you're still on the side of the people. Somehow.

It would be cool if there was a (website?) which clearly showed the amount of promises a politician actually keeps. It would be nice to see it put together in a nice, visual way too so everyone can understand it.

Ie, verified number of jobs delivered to said community etc.

It would be also nice to have donations clearly labelled against a politicians profile.

The major issue for me is there is a major lack of transparency and accountability in politics right now, globally.

Honestly, I feel like the old four year term system is just way too out of date with the current crisis we need to solve.

It’s not possible because it’s simply not easy to measure many complicated things, such as job growth over many years due to specific actions or infrastructure development that takes a decade or more, but politicians go in and out quicker and voters minds don’t pay attention for that long.

You do actually need to deliver economic growth but that is a lagging indicator. If the economy goes south and you are President, you will lose your job. The House and Senate are somewhat shielded because their politics is local. Also bear in mind that one of the political parties caters to single issue voters.

> We're basically treating nature like a resource and stripping it all back to nothing (like AEP did in the 60's and 70's)

Go back further.

This [0] is a picture of what used to be a stream in Southeast Ohio. Coal mines shuttered 100 years ago are still leaking acid drainage into it.

Southeast Ohio is rife with acid mine drainage like this from coal mines active in the late 1800's and early 1900's. These negative externalities weren't priced in any more than those of AEP in the 60's and 70's or the natural gas industry today.

[0] https://imgur.com/a/NZWDQmg

> There were exactly zero write-ups of this in the local papers.

A few miles across the border it’s been all over the Pittsburgh news —- the mayor here has even been tweeting about it!

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