News Article: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/e-p-a-subpoenas-halliburton-on-fracking/?src=twt&twt=nytenvironment
Related News Article: coto2.wordpress.com/.../fracking-pa-for-halliburton-exempt-from-clean- water-act/
After years of suffering the damage that fracking has caused, the EPA has finally stepped up to the plate. Before now, it was not required of natural gas drilling companies to release the names of and information on the chemicals they use to mix with water and shoot at the shale above natural gas deposits. But things are finally starting to change.
The EPA did make a VOLUNTARY request to all of the major gas drilling companies to release the information on the chemicals they use, but Halliburton remained steadfast in its efforts to keep it concealed. After compiling statistic on the damage being done to nearby towns' and cities' water supply, evident through youtube videos showing people catching their facet water on fire, the EPA issued a subpoena on Halliburton. This suspicion is amplified in that the other eight companies the EPA asked did release their information promptly before the EPA had to issue a subpoena.
For those of you that don't know, a subpoena is a demand for the release of something that could be used as evidence in the court of law, ranging from information even to witnesses.
This reluctance to share information by Halliburton has also led the EPA to conduct a more thorough investigation into the effects of natural gas drilling. This would have been done earlier, but a vote from Congress in 2005 exempted gas drilling companies from the Clean Water Act of 2004 from having their practices regulated, as drilling "posed little threat to human health". I guess they changed their minds.
This investigation comes as a critical blow to the new Republican governor of PA, Tom Corbett, who expresses that "Pennsylvannia is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas". But Tom Corbett, along with other Republican members of the government elected from PA, claim that natural gas should not be taxed, despite the effects drilling for it has on our drinking water.
In my other blog, I've covered just how dramatic the affects can be of fracking on the water. They could not only affect the biotic factors that rely on well water for life, being mostly the populations of humans, but the chemicals that are spread throughout the ecosystems could also disrupt the abiotic factors that organisms depend on. There are a lot of delicate chemical reactions that need to take place in nature for our survival, and while we may not know the full extent of said disruption, I'm sure we don't want to find out.
As you'll see in the video, there is a lot of activism surrounding the whole affair. To counteract this, Homeland Security has been MONITORING public viewings of the movie "Gasland" in which the main activist, Fox, explains the dangers of unregulated fracking companies. Why would Homeland Security be monitoring the viewings? apparently they don't like what people are finding out and doing about it. But is this activism enough to overthrow the new Republican regime, who have been "donated" money by fracking companies for their election campigns?
"We'll see..." said the Zen Master.
