The “Halliburton Loophole”. Halliburton first patented fracking in the 1940s, and is the world’s largest fracking services provider. With the help of former Halliburton CEO, Dick Cheney, the United States 2005 Energy Bill passed with language that exempted fracking operations from the regulations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, and exempted the concoction of chemicals used for fracking from pollutant status under an amendment to the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. People are frustrated and scared of the health risks associated with such environmental disregard. The chemicals used in fracking are considered proprietary, and are not subject to review by the EPA. Fracking companies report that maintaining proprietary status helps maintain a competitive edge, and that companies are self-regulated, thus mitigating any possible health concerns (we need to just trust them to watch out for our safety over their profits, right?). With little to no restrictions, drilling companies have been expanding at a rapid rate since this bill was passed.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:50:01 +0000
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