Count me as one who's less than overwhelmed by the local Democrat Party's "Green Agenda."

 A Legislative Recycling Commission to study additional recycling of plastic is a reaction fails to address the original problem. One of the major sources of plastics in our society is the plastic products used for bottling water. Over the last 20 years, American corporations have successfully created a niche for bottled water and marketed it, costing thousands of times its normal cost. That demand has also placed additional demand on fossil fuels and landfills.

 Every year, American industry consumes approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil in the fabrication of plastic bottles. Additional natural gas, petroleum, and water are required to provide the additional resources to fuel the bottle production process. Once those bottles are filled, it takes even more petroleum energy to transport them around the country. Once empty, only 20 percent of water bottles are recycled, and that recycling requires more energy. The rest of the plastic used in water bottles lies stable in landfills for hundreds if not thousands of years.

 A Legislative Recycling Commission does nothing to solve this squandering of the earth's fossil fuels and resources. Chicago has the right idea. Its legislature is considering a special levy on the sale of bottled water in the city. Let's look at the same thing in Monroe County. In addition to raising revenue, there's a very good chance that a tax would cause bottled water sales to fall, with the result being conservation of our fossil fuels and allowing our landfill capacity to be more wisely utilized.

 At the least, let's lend the voices of the local Democrat Party to those who are seeking to expand the state bottle bill to include bottled water containers. Water bottles pose the same littering problem that soda bottles did a generation ago. It's time to recognize plastic water containers as a drain on our resources and to pattern public policy accordingly.

THOMAS F. CLARK, GREECE