18. (10) A vendor. service company or operator
19. shall identify the specific identity and amount of any chemicals
20. claimed to be a trade secret or confidential proprietary
21. information to any health professional who requests the
22. information in writing if the healthy professional who requests the information executes a
23. confidentiality agreement in writing and provides the written statement of
24. need for the information indicating the following:
25. (i) The information is needed for the
26. purpose of diagnosis or treatment of an individual.
27. (ii) the individual being diagnosed or treated
28. may have been exposed to a hazardous chemical.
29. (iii) Knowledge of information will assist in the
30 diagnosis or treatment of an individual.
The barely intelligible legal gobbledegook above are lines 18 through 30 of page 98 of 174 page text of HB 1950, the act which has passed through both houses of the Pennsylvania State Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Tom Corbett on February 13th. This piece of legislation supposedly deals with regulating the drilling and pipeline industry in Pennsylvania. It in fact is an industry piece of legislation designed to reduce the onus of proof and responsibility of environmental and health damages on the public guaranteed by the Constitution of The State of Pennsylvania which the Pennsylvania State Legislature is supposed to be upholding.
Basically, the language of the passage I presented above states that physicians treating a patient who have reason to believe the illness may be the result of toxic exposure from drilling, must submit a written request asking for the chemicals used in the process, provided they sign a confidentiality agreement. In essence it basically says, we're probably going to poison some people, but we demand no press. For more information of Fracking, you can go to my previous posts: RIP CARL STILES
and The Fracking Fakts About The Fracking Frackers.
More over, in the public debate on Fracking and the evidence that was corporately presented to push this bill through the house, the theatrical performance of Halliburton CEO, David Lesar in November 2011 at a presentation in a conference in Denver, for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association was cited as evidence that fracking is now safe and the industry just doesn't need the costly, restrictive regulations and safeguards that the crybaby environmentalists demand.
The product CleanStim is still in the developmental stage. It's theatrical and dramatic presentation had nothing to do with the current state of the industry. But the theater had it's effect on the easily lobbied and fully graftable legislators who voted on the passage of the bill.
The reality, of course is that the companies doing the fracking are causing ground water pollution and enviromental problems faster and more often just by unregulated, shoddy and hasty work. On February 16th, The Energy Institute at the University of Texas in Austin released a study reported that many problems blamed on hydraulic fracturing are related to processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations, such as casing failures or poor cement jobs.
The barely intelligible legal gobbledegook above are lines 18 through 30 of page 98 of 174 page text of HB 1950, the act which has passed through both houses of the Pennsylvania State Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Tom Corbett on February 13th. This piece of legislation supposedly deals with regulating the drilling and pipeline industry in Pennsylvania. It in fact is an industry piece of legislation designed to reduce the onus of proof and responsibility of environmental and health damages on the public guaranteed by the Constitution of The State of Pennsylvania which the Pennsylvania State Legislature is supposed to be upholding.
Basically, the language of the passage I presented above states that physicians treating a patient who have reason to believe the illness may be the result of toxic exposure from drilling, must submit a written request asking for the chemicals used in the process, provided they sign a confidentiality agreement. In essence it basically says, we're probably going to poison some people, but we demand no press. For more information of Fracking, you can go to my previous posts: RIP CARL STILES
and The Fracking Fakts About The Fracking Frackers.
More over, in the public debate on Fracking and the evidence that was corporately presented to push this bill through the house, the theatrical performance of Halliburton CEO, David Lesar in November 2011 at a presentation in a conference in Denver, for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association was cited as evidence that fracking is now safe and the industry just doesn't need the costly, restrictive regulations and safeguards that the crybaby environmentalists demand.
What did Lesar do? He sipped from a glass that he claimed contained the current version of Fracking Fluid....wait, Lesar didn't exactly drink the fluid himself, he had an underling exec drink the fluid.... What was in the glass was never determined by no other criteria other than Mr. Lesar's claim. Lesar claimed the glass contained a liquid called CleanStim. The state of the art, "safe" fracking fluid that Halliburton has developed. But what is CleanStim? The industry claims it is a "totally safe" fracking liquid made from ingredients used in the food industry. "Totally Safe" claims Halliburton, but not intended for human consumption. But don't try to find out what is in ClearStim. It's a trade secret, patented and now protected under the aegis of HB 1950. The only way you could ever find out is to get sick enough to have a doctor who suspect that the symptoms you have are caused by fracking fluid formally request in writing for a list of the patent protected recipe of the safe and delightful concoction of chemicals used in the liquid.
The product CleanStim is still in the developmental stage. It's theatrical and dramatic presentation had nothing to do with the current state of the industry. But the theater had it's effect on the easily lobbied and fully graftable legislators who voted on the passage of the bill.
The reality, of course is that the companies doing the fracking are causing ground water pollution and enviromental problems faster and more often just by unregulated, shoddy and hasty work. On February 16th, The Energy Institute at the University of Texas in Austin released a study reported that many problems blamed on hydraulic fracturing are related to processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations, such as casing failures or poor cement jobs.
University researchers also concluded that many reports of contamination can be traced to above-ground spills or other mishandling of wastewater produced from shale gas drilling, rather than from hydraulic fracturing, Charles “Chip” Groat, an Energy Institute associate director, said in a statement.
“These problems are not unique to hydraulic fracturing,” he said.
But here is another piece by Josh Fox, the writer and director of the documentary Gasland, In it he presents evidence that the casings as they are presently being constructed will almost certainly develop leakage well within the productive life of the well.
Wow, the Oil Industry funded University of Texas Energy Institute determined that we are at more danger from the the shoddy practices of the fracking industry than from fracking fluid. Should we all be breathing a collective sigh of relief?
But here is another piece by Josh Fox, the writer and director of the documentary Gasland, In it he presents evidence that the casings as they are presently being constructed will almost certainly develop leakage well within the productive life of the well.
Wow, the Oil Industry funded University of Texas Energy Institute determined that we are at more danger from the the shoddy practices of the fracking industry than from fracking fluid. Should we all be breathing a collective sigh of relief?
Perhaps, we are totally fracked. TOTALLY FRACKED?
I don't think so, there is still a lot of active opposition to this bill and if you live in any of the active drilling regions now being exploited in The USA, you owe it to your self to learn about the organizations in your region protecting your rights and environment. Here is a link to a fact sheet about fracking opposition. Here is another. Here is the link to the PBS free site to view Josh Fox's documentary Gasland, which led to his arrest 2 weeks ago in the US House of Representatives as he tried to record additional material from the House Hearings to update this great documentary.
I also would like to direct your attention to this local Southwestern PA blog , Lingonier Living. Ligonier, PA is a community sitting on top of the Marcellus Shale formation and now being destroyed as the developers tear the community apart by pitting neighbor against neighbor to pressure the residents into surrendering the rights to the shale under their property. There is a lot of stuff to wade through here, but it is full of useful links and information in the ongoing battle to control the fracking madness.
I don't think so, there is still a lot of active opposition to this bill and if you live in any of the active drilling regions now being exploited in The USA, you owe it to your self to learn about the organizations in your region protecting your rights and environment. Here is a link to a fact sheet about fracking opposition. Here is another. Here is the link to the PBS free site to view Josh Fox's documentary Gasland, which led to his arrest 2 weeks ago in the US House of Representatives as he tried to record additional material from the House Hearings to update this great documentary.
I also would like to direct your attention to this local Southwestern PA blog , Lingonier Living. Ligonier, PA is a community sitting on top of the Marcellus Shale formation and now being destroyed as the developers tear the community apart by pitting neighbor against neighbor to pressure the residents into surrendering the rights to the shale under their property. There is a lot of stuff to wade through here, but it is full of useful links and information in the ongoing battle to control the fracking madness.
again, I want to thank my friend, Mr. Politeness for inspiring me to write more about fracking and providing the horrific details of the implications in HB 1950.
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