Get your fracking facts straight

With reference to Donald R. Baucom’s Letter to the Editor, “Fracking expertise no cause for attack,” Business Outlook, Feb 18, 2013:

Baucom seems to have missed the point of my ... Feb. 11 Outlook letter to the editor responding to Professor Alex Ritchie’s Jan. 28 article.

I agree with Baucom, Ritchie’s credentials are impressive. The fact is, one needs to dig to learn that Ritchie’s credentials cause one to be suspicious of his suggestion that “State legislators should consider … action to make clear that the New Mexico Oil and Gas Act preempts local regulation….” This suggestion comes not from an unbiased law academic at UNM. Professor Ritchie apparently has an extensive background in fighting for the interest of gas and oil corporations.

I realize Ritchie is not a scientist, he is a lawyer, and in effect he legally defends that which oil and gas do with science. The Center for Science in the Public Interest conducts a project titled “Integrity in Science.” CSPI’s mission, in part, is to recognize that “partnerships between industry and the research community … entail conflicts of interest that may compromise the judgment of trusted professionals…”

It is unfortunate there is no “Integrity in Law” webpage at www.unm.edu or at www. americanbarassociation.org.

One more CSPI goal (is) encouraging “journalists to routinely ask scientists and others about their possible conflicts of interests and to provide this information to the public.” Ron Wooten-Green Las Vegas, N.M.