Blowing it out of proportion, exaggerated fears, reactive! That’s what they’re saying about the doctors.
I think the doctors have every right to be worried and we, the public, need to support them.
Ever since fracking has begun in the Marcellus Shale regions of Pennsylvania we’ve been hearing accounts of spoiled drinking water, once pristine water-wells now polluted having to be shut down as dangerous to one’s health. Many tell stories of developing health problems and medical issues that were nonexistent before the introduction of fracking in their neighborhoods.
And what is the response of the companies that are doing the fracking (e.g., Halliburton, ExxonMobil)? Typical, adamant, not to mention arrogant, denial: There is no evidence connecting the dots. They say. You can’t prove it’s us. Besides, we’re self-monitoring. Trust us. We’re not causing the problem. They assert. But if they are not the source, who is? And if their fracking chemicals are not polluting once pristine drinkable water-wells, what is?
Yes indeed, deny as they may, there is an obvious and direct connection between their fracking and the polluting of wells and worse, the growing cases of ill-health among local residents living in fracking locations.
But where is the proof? Well, these companies have managed to take care that no proof can be found, or rightly used against them, if found.
First, they maintain secrecy in the name of “proprietary information” protection. It is therefore next to impossible for the public to actually learn what chemicals are being used, as they flaunt rights of secrecy and privacy protection for their business. Secondly, they’ve managed to escape from under EPA’s regulatory Toxic Release Inventory and Safe Drinking Water Act. These regulatory acts were to insure that communities are given information about chemicals that companies are releasing and to be held directly responsible for the polluting of water. Thirdly, and this is the one the doctors are upset about, there is a new law that now prevents doctors from sharing information that they do obtain (out of the necessity to treat patients becoming ill from these secret chemicals) with other doctors and patients or with the community at large.
These companies have surrounded themselves with a cloak of legal secrecy. Obviously their greatest fear is full and public disclosure. We can only conclude that they fear public reaction if the public actually learned the truth of what they are doing, the chemicals they are using and its effect on the environment. Thus, their greatest defensive maneuver is to keep us ignorant and in the dark. And their greatest offensive weapons are the economic, legal, and political powers backing them with laws that sustain their secrecy.
I agree with the doctors. This is not good. The law puts doctors at risk and on a dangerous footing (damned if they do, damned if they don’t). It is indeed a gag order, and it bodes ill for the general public.
I don’t believe these companies need proprietary information protection with respect to the chemicals they are using for fracking. The public’s safety and health concerns must have first priority, not to mention our need to sustain available clean drinking water resources, such as local wells.
We need to demand FULL DISCLOSURE! Let the doctors as well as any concerned citizen speak freely and obtain all the information they need with the freedom to share it with whomever they wish. All of us need to learn the full extent of the situation and have all the facts before us, in order to properly address any present or potential problem, face any challenge, and deal with heretofore unforeseen consequences resulting from the eager desire to exploit our gas/oil resources by the use of fracking.
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