Do you think he comprehends the depth of his hypocracy?
Might be a rhetorical question, but someone that shows such sociopathic tendencies? I strongly doubt it. There are "rules" and problems for him, and different ones for others. Now that's entitlement.
The CEO of ExxonMobil – the top producer of natural gas in the US – has joined a lawsuit that challenges the construction of a water tower connected to hydraulic fracturing operations near his Texas home, given that it may reduce the property value.
CEO Rex Tillerson and other plaintiffs claim the hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – project will cause unwanted noise and traffic associated with trucking water from the 160-foot tower to the drilling site, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The tower will provide water “to oil and gas explorers for fracing shale formations leading to traffic with heavy trucks on FM 407, creating a noise nuisance and traffic hazards,” according to the lawsuit. The water tower is owned by Cross Timbers Water Supply Corporation.
Tillerson’s lawyer claims the noise, traffic, and actual fracking does not bother the ExxonMobil CEO, stating that it is the possible depreciation of his $5 million property in Bartonville, Texas that he is worried about.
Fracking is the controversial process of injecting water, sand, and various chemicals into layers of rock, in hopes of releasing oil and gas deep underground. Fracking in a single well can take millions of gallons of freshwater.
Tillerson himself has excoriated fracking regulations amid the practice’s boom across the country.
“This type of dysfunctional regulation is holding back the American economic recovery, growth, and global competitiveness,” he said in 2012, Reuters reported.
In another 2012 interview - with the Council on Foreign Relations - Tillerson said that natural gas production today has been revamped with new technologies, “so the risks are very manageable.”
Yet fracking’s popularity with energy behemoths like ExxonMobil is finding resistance across the US based on more than property values and noise complaints.
Fracking is exhausting water supplies in areas of the country that are suffering from chronic shortages, including Texas.
The practice has also been linked to an upsurge of earthquakes in many areas of the nation.
A recent study showed that the fetus of pregnant woman living within a 10-mile range of a fracking well is in much greater danger of congenital heart defects (CHD) and neural tube defects (NTD).
Another recent study found that chemicals used in fracking are suspected of being endocrine disruptors, which “could raise the risk of reproductive, metabolic, neurological and other diseases, especially in children who are exposed to” the materials.
On Thursday, a letter signed by over 1,000 doctors and health professionals was sent by Environment America to President Barack Obama, highlighting many other damaging health and environmental effects associated with fracking. (...)
I'm all in favour of making the ingredients public and the only trade protection that should be allowed is a patent which expires after a few years to encourage competition. But almost all of the pump back fluid is indistinguishable from the natural formation waters. Of course those are not necessarily non-hazardous and need to be treated properly.
Personally, I would rather see them shut down coal mining even if the trade off is more natural gas development.
I live near coal country here in Ohio. I would have to agree with you that in the long run the trade off of coal to nat gas is better in the long run. One of the biggest problems is the tailings from mining. The tailings are what destroyed much of the water in Colorado back in the 1800's and many other places as well.
Coal has problems with ash after burning, not to mention the contents of the smoke. Nat gas burns clean. We have a lot of gas and oil wells here in Ohio. The oil wells are pretty old and they use the process of injecting brine into the wells to force the oil up. Brine injecting has been going on here since the 60's that I know off. Fracking is just the evolution of the brine process now that we have horizontal drilling.
Like most technologies, if used properly, its pretty safe.
A judge in Casper has sided with the state of Wyoming and ruled against environmentalists who sought to make public the lists of ingredients that go into hydraulic fracturing fluids. Environmental groups had requested the ingredient lists from the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, arguing that the public needs to know what chemicals companies are putting underground. Natrona County District Judge Catherine Wilking has ruled that Wyoming's state oil and gas supervisor was correct to withhold the ingredient lists as protected trade secrets. Specially formulated lubricants are used in fracking, which involves pumping water, sand and fracking fluids underground to split open oil- and gas-bearing rocks. Attorneys for Wyoming and oilfield services company Halliburton argued that public disclosure could allow competing companies to reverse-engineer fracking fluids.
I'm all in favour of making the ingredients public and the only trade protection that should be allowed is a patent which expires after a few years to encourage competition. But almost all of the pump back fluid is indistinguishable from the natural formation waters. Of course those are not necessarily non-hazardous and need to be treated properly.
Personally, I would rather see them shut down coal mining even if the trade off is more natural gas development.
If what Dave says is true, its another reason to abolish the EPA. It is not the friend of the public, it is the friend of business. Let's not forget that it was established by a Republican after all. We can also get rid of our federal tax agency while we are at it and a couple of other agencies.
A judge in Casper has sided with the state of Wyoming and ruled against environmentalists who sought to make public the lists of ingredients that go into hydraulic fracturing fluids. Environmental groups had requested the ingredient lists from the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, arguing that the public needs to know what chemicals companies are putting underground. Natrona County District Judge Catherine Wilking has ruled that Wyoming's state oil and gas supervisor was correct to withhold the ingredient lists as protected trade secrets. Specially formulated lubricants are used in fracking, which involves pumping water, sand and fracking fluids underground to split open oil- and gas-bearing rocks. Attorneys for Wyoming and oilfield services company Halliburton argued that public disclosure could allow competing companies to reverse-engineer fracking fluids.
