Part III: Turning Rural America into the New Industrialized Wastelands
Despite precautions not to contaminate ground water, at least 3 states participating in the fracking boom, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, each have hundreds of complaints regarding contamination of water supplies. Texas has over 2,000 complaints of well water contamination; however, Texas state regulators have not confirmed one single case, which is probably a reflection of the nature of the Texan government.
The state government of Texas has also been insistent that the fracking has been in complete compliance with air quality standards. Fracking is now known to be a definite source of air pollution. From the drilling, fracking, to processing, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that include benzene and toluene are released. VOCs are known causes of cancer and also play a role in the development of neurological disorders. Specific to the Eagle Ford Shale Formation, there has been the continued release of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that cause minor illnesses like nausea, nose bleeds, asthma, and at high enough doses, causes death. This past February, the Center for Public Integrity published a report on this very subject titled “Big Oil, Bad Air.” Air quality would have to be regulated on the state level, and as Governor Rick Perry does not believe in the existence of an Environmental Protection Agency as he stated frequently when he was participating in the Republican primaries, his administration appears to not believe in environmental regulation on the local state level as well.
On the positive side, this past April 24, 2014, a Texas couple has won a more than $2.9 million judgment against the energy company Aruba Petroleum for disruptive fracking near their land. A jury found Aruba “intentionally created a private nuisance” through its drilling and fracking operations near the home of Bob and Lisa Parr. The pollution was so bad the Parrs had to flee their home for months at a time. Their attorney says the case marks “the first fracking verdict in U.S. history.” Perhaps this will embolden others to take a stand against the practices of the industry. Ultimately grass roots activism is needed to push the Texan government to regulate existing air and water quality laws, and of course this goes for other states as well.
Radioactive waste has also been a growing problem, and this has especially been noted in North Dakota, which is now the second largest oil and gas producing state after Texas. To capture the solid waste from the waste water used in fracking, a large net called a filter sock is used. Literally dozens of tons of these waste sock filters are produced as garbage to be tossed daily. The landfills in North Dakota have installed Geiger counters and will not let anything be dumped that registers over 5 picocuries of radioactivity, and current state law levies a $1,000 per sock fine on the radioactive filter socks. Individually, socks have registered degrees of radioactivity clocking in from above 5 picocuries to over 1,000 picocuries. As North Dakota has absolutely no formal rules or way for companies to dispose of these radioactive filter socks, they’ve been getting dumped illegally. Just last month, tons of this waste was found dumped illegally at Indian reservations in McKenzie County. Around the same time, outside the small town of Noonan with a population of 102, an abandoned 4,000 square foot gasoline station was found to be packed solidly with deadly radioactive filter socks. As usual, the theme is ‘we have to get the oil out of the ground as soon as possible” and anything else takes a back seat, including any possible oversight and regulation.
Apparently, the oil companies would prefer to control the politics that would allow for meaningful regulation that would prevent dangerous pollution.
In the 1990s, Royal Dutch Shell was heavily drilling around the Nigerian Delta unleashing lots of damaging pollution which resulted in massive protest by activists that lived in the region. The oil operations resulted in numerous spills and fires in the Ogoni region. The Nigerian Mobile Police Force or MOPOL, the paramilitary wing of the Nigerian police force, essentially allowed itself to be bought as mercenaries by Shell oil and actively shot at peaceful protest and demonstrations. It’s known that when acting as guardians of oil operations, members of MOPOL even were wearing Shell patches on their uniforms. In 1995 well known play writer who was also an activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, was captured by MOPOL and hung to death.
Members of the Kiobel family related to murdered victims brought a case against Royal Dutch Shell in the US claiming the corporation violated the alien tort act, by providing material support to deadly military squads from the Nigerian army and police that attacked and murdered several Ogonis in the early 1990s. Royal Dutch Shell and several multinational corporations were handed victory by the US Supreme Court which affirmed the September 2010 decision of the US Court of Appeals for the second circuit relating to the case of Ogoni nationals affected by Shell’s oil connivance with the Nigerian military.
So, essentially, if a multinational corporation kills and tortures people in another country who protest extreme environmental damage, they can do so if it’s along the normal lines of business. This unfortunate 2013 Supreme Court decision should not be too much of a surprise, as this is the same U.S. Supreme Court that effectively declared corporations are have the same rights as people in the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case in 2010.
It is fully apparent that multinational corporations have the ability to corrupt the government to serve their interests in the name of short term profits. Strong grassroots activism will be required to challenge the current institutions in power.
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