Why Are We So Lenient?

Why are Natural Gas Drillers Exempt From So Many Laws?

By Brendan O.

Oil and gas drilling could conceiv­ably result in enormous amounts of pollution that can have seriously hazardous effects on our health, our air, water, and land. Despite these risks many natural gas drilling sites in the U.S. are located near homes, schools and communities.

What is more shocking is that the oil and gas industries are ex­empt from numerous provisions of federal laws intended to protect our health and our environment. These laws include, but are not limited to: “The Safe Drinking Water Act,” “The Clean Water Act,” “The Clean Air Act,” “The Right-to-Know-Act,” and other protections. These loopholes allow for natural gas drill­ing in spite of the dangers.

How did it come to be that these industries enjoy such ridiculous exemptions from the laws that are meant to protect us? Natural gas drilling may even be more danger­ous than some of the other indus­tries that must abide by these laws. What gives these people the right to gamble with our lives and our environment?

These exemptions were au­thorized in 2005 when they were slipped into the 2005 Energy Policy Act. At the time, Dick Cheney was our nation’s Vice President. He was also the CEO of Halliburton, or as some people call it “Helliburton.” Halliburton invented hydraulic frac­turing during the 1940s and remains one of the three largest producers of fracking fluids. It is preposterous that when the CEO of this company was the Vice President, they were able to secure these exemptions and thereby protect the industry’s growing profitability. Since the drillers are also exempt from the “Right to Know Act” they don’t even have to disclose the chemicals fracking fluid.

How much corruption can one country take? Looking at newspa­per headlines recently we see big companies like Goldman Sachs, Citibank, AIG, and half of Wall Street committing huge transgres­sions against the American people. When will it end? When can we put aside the incredible greed and selfishness that’s the driving force behind all corruption these days? It all comes down to money.

It’s time for us to fix this system. For starters, we need to close the “Halliburton loophole” that has permitted natural gas companies to pump vast quantities of toxins and pollution into our ground, water and air and put our health in jeopardy. Everyone deserves to have clean, safe drinking water. It is a basic human right.