To the Editor:

I was pleased to read of the legislative victory against the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA) won by UUP and others, but was dismayed supporters might re-submit it. PHEEIA would allow SUNY and CUNY administrators “to lease university land to private corporations” without legislative accountability.

I fear university administrators might broadly interpret “private” to allow, for instance, leasing our public colleges for fracking (natural gas drilling). Since the 2005 Energy Policy Act exempted fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, fracking has spread virally across the country, including numerous universities, like the University of Texas at Arlington, and land owned by Penn State. Already New York legislators feel pressured to frack in upstate communities. Millions of dollars are hard to turn down.

Unfortunately, this Halliburton technology has a questionable environmental record. Into millions of gallons of fresh water, tons of toxic carcinogens, endocrine disruptors and neurological inhibitors are added.

Also, radioactive materials, heavy metals and methane are brought up from deep underground. These contaminants tend to leak into the aquifer and air, causing explosions, fish kills and major health problems.

It might be a disaster if PHEEIA opened the possibility of fracking, or any other unintended industry, on SUNY/CUNY campuses. UUP is right to fight its adoption.

— Alice Zinnes, NYC College of Technology, Adjunct Assistant Professor