Maryland is no longer buying the "Just Trust Us" arguments, when it comes to Fracking in their state.
Fracking moratorium, strict liability standards bills pass in Maryland
rt.com -- March 25, 2015
Both chambers of the Maryland legislature passed bills that would rein in hydraulic fracturing in the state. The House of Delegates passed a three-year moratorium on fracking, while the Senate approved strict liability standards for oil and gas drillers.
[...] Previous Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, put permit reviews on hold while a commission studied the industry and while his administration wrote enforcement regulations, the Baltimore Sun reported.
[...]
Fracking liability bill
The state Senate, meanwhile, voted 29-17 to hold gas and oil companies financially liable if their fracking causes injury, death or loss of property. The bill calls the industry “an ultrahazardous and abnormally dangerous activity,” and would create some of the country's strictest liability standards for fracking by requiring them to carry a $10 million insurance policy that extends six years beyond the drilling operation, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Republicans argued that other industries are much more dangerous, yet aren’t receiving the same strict restrictions.
[...]
Didn't
Tobacco corporation CEOs use the same "appeal to authority" arguments (ie. "Just Trust their well-paid experts") -- for far too long? At the long lasting costs of far too many
lives being cut short, from consuming their "untrustworthy products" -- as directed.
And a major Government Agency is no longer "just trusting" -- the claims of hydraulic-fracturing corporations, that their operations are safe, clean, and ultimately harmless ...
It’s Official: Everybody Hates The New Fracking Rules… Not
by Tina Casey, cleantechnica.com -- March 22, 2015
[...]
You can read the whole new fracking rule in the Federal Register, but for those of you on the go here is the Interior Department’s rundown of key provisions:
• Provisions for ensuring the protection of groundwater supplies by requiring a validation of well integrity and strong cement barriers between the wellbore and water zones through which the wellbore passes;
• Increased transparency by requiring companies to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing to the Bureau of Land Management through the website FracFocus, within 30 days of completing fracturing operations;
• Higher standards for interim storage of recovered waste fluids from hydraulic fracturing to mitigate risks to air, water and wildlife;
[...]
And even some of the Doctors who have had to deal with
the fallout from fracking -- are no longer content to let this status-quo scourge continue ...
Unchallenged.
They are 'flacking back' too ...
Doctor loses lawsuit that challenged secrecy of fracking fluid
by Terrie Morgan-Besecker / The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa. -- March 20, 2015
A federal appellate court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by an area physician challenging a law that precluded him from releasing information he obtained regarding chemicals contained in hydraulic fracking fluid.
Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez of Dallas challenged Act 13 of 2012, which allows medical professionals to learn the ingredients in fracking fluid if the information is used to treat patients, but requires them to enter a confidentiality agreement.
[...]
The lawsuit argued Dr. Rodriguez had an ethical obligation to share information regarding fracking fluid ingredients with his patients, other medical professionals and the general public “to advance scientific knowledge.” The suit, which named the head of the Department of Environmental Protection and State Attorney General as defendants, sought a court order precluding the agencies from enforcing the law.
[...]
How "harmless" can this 'toxic stew' in your ground water --
actually be, if it requires a "Gag order on Doctors" -- just to learn its ingredients???
(No wonder the NG CEO's want to keep it -- their "proprietary" formulas -- top secret. Tobacco companies did the same with their "internal reports" too, for many many years.)
EarthWorks: Hydraulic Fracturing 101
[...] Some of the fracturing fluids are pumped out of the well and into surface pits or tanks during the process of extracting oil, gas and any produced water, but studies have shown that anywhere from 20-40% of fracing fluids may remain underground.[4]
[...]
Many fracturing fluids contain chemicals that can be toxic to humans and wildlife, and chemicals that are known to cause cancer. These include potentially toxic substances such as diesel fuel, which contains benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene and other chemicals; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; methanol; formaldehyde; ethylene glycol; glycol ethers; hydrochloric acid; and sodium hydroxide.[7] Very small quantities of chemicals such as benzene, which causes cancer, are capable of contaminating millions of gallons of water.
[...]
According to the EPA study, and studies conducted by the oil and gas industry, [10] between 20 and 40% of the fracturing fluids may remain in the formation, which means the fluids could continue to be a source of groundwater contamination for years to come.
No wonder Maryland is cracking down on it, the Department of Interior is trying to better regulate it,
-- and Doctors want to able to openly talk about it -- the dangers they are seeing from this toxic stew.
Learn more ...
Natural Gas, How Clean is it? A Bad News, more Bad News Story
by jamess -- May 01, 2011
About that Public Hearing that Gasland Documentary Director, never got to see
by jamess -- Feb 02, 2012
Squawks from that not-so-quiet War-room to 'End the EPA'
by jamess -- Feb 03, 2012
"Actually it's cleaner." ... Actually it's Not.
by jamess -- Nov 23, 2011
What if it was your groundwater -- that was suddenly rendered "Unfit for Consumption"???
Would you continue to Just Trust them then ... Nor should we, now.