The lead article in the Jan. 27, 2014, Region Section of The Post-Journal titled “Preserving Property Rights: Ban On Fracking Leads Reed To Back Legislation For Landowners” should give Editorial cause for further thought about issues that are being faced today in governance. What are the philosophical policy impacts? What will be the unintended consequences?

During my professional career and public service involvements, I have been regularly faced with having to make decisions that favor either the individual’s desires on the one hand or the community’s need on the other hand. The interests of both have frequently not been the same and thus value judgments that are often subjective have had to be made. Indeed, this is what the political system is often all about.

The issue of fracking is causing conflicting value judgments to come to the forefront. It has become a tactical war in many venues. Those who lose a battle look for another battle that may yet win the war. I suggest that this piece of legislation is one such tactic of those who lost the NYS battle to either force reconsideration by the state or nonetheless find economic gain. On the face of it, is the quest for money that stands out which certainly is not surprising in today’s world. However, in this instance we need to think beyond the fracking war at hand. What is the message to public policy and what are the implications?

Today’s norms have evolved to believe that we all are entitled to a lot. We frequently hear about entitlement legislation that exists on the national and state levels. We experience high property taxes because of Medicaid entitlement costs. We understand that we cannot lower taxes because the political system has solidified a majority generation of entitlement enjoying citizens who will vote against taking away their entitlements. We also are becoming entitled to the philosophy that it is always someone else’s responsibility and not our personal accountability. Accidents no longer exist. Accidents have become incidents caused by others. Hardly an hour can pass in TV viewing without seeing personal injury adds for recompensing most anything. We have become entitled to recompense no matter what is the situation. Our legal system reinforces this entitlement in addition to making it easy for us to file a claim.

What new entitlement generation will this legislation create? How will the courts interpret it and likely expand it as the entitled reach out for more? For example, what will be the impact upon local zoning? What undesired property uses will end up being allowed in residential areas as towns react to the unintended consequences of the law? Taken to an extreme, will pornography stores now be allowed in residential neighborhoods next to schools when local municipalities are forced to change their zoning in order to avoid having to pay cash recompense to those who wish to gain from pornography and cannot? Zoning has become the mainstay of community design and development which benefits the enjoyment of most. Will an individual’s entitlement now result in doing away with zoning? Think about it. More than fracking is involved. What other unintended consequences could result from this legislation?

The sales spin for the legislation is preserving an individual’s property rights. Think further about that. Zoning preserves an individual’s property value. Environmental protection preserves an individual’s property value. Every citizen survey that has been taken in the last decade by the county Planning and Economic Development Department has resulted in evidencing that the number one reason that residents like living here is our environmental setting. Survey results have been loud and clear that our environmental setting should be preserved and enhanced. Good property values exist because of our environmental setting. At what point does the community’s benefit say no to the individual’s quest for more? Let’s not let this fracking war saddle us with unintended entitlement consequences that will plague us going forward. Let’s send the message to Representative Reed to represent us differently and to concentrate on the urgent national needs that face Congress.

Douglas E. Conroe is a Maple Springs resident who has held elective office at the village board and school board levels and currently serves on an interstate compact commission board in addition to volunteering with several community based organizations.