What don’t they want you to know?
Senate Panel Mistaken to Approve Rule Requiring Fracking Fluid
be Kept Secret
Morgantown Dominion Post - EDITORIAL
15 March 2013
Ask anyone about the secret to success and they’ll tell you:
Shhhh! It’s a trade secret. Not really. But you might have walked
away from a recent session of the Senate Energy, Industry and
Mining Committee at the state Capitol thinking that. Especially,
if the members of that panel actually believed the line of
nonsense the world’s largest provider of products and services to
the energy industry was gushing. And apparently they did. This
week, that eminent committee advanced Senate Bill 245, which
allows the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to
put its 46-page Gas Well Act’s rules into effect. But one of those
rules was subject to amending by Halliburton, the Houston-based
powerhouse. It objected earlier to the rule providing for
divulging its fracking cocktail’s ingredients and concentrations.
Prior to Halliburton’s pressure, that rule gave operators the
option of naming the chemical recipe as a trade secret, but it
would still be known to the DEP or a health provider in an
emergency. Now, the rule reads that such fracking formulas are not
even available to the DEP, except for the purposes of
investigations or medical emergencies. And if that data is turned
over to a health provider, it requires a physician to ink a
confidentiality agreement, and explain in writing why that
information is needed. So now, it’s possible, this rule could
prevent a health professional from knowing what they are treating
until after the fact. Like ... after their patient’s beyond the
point of no return, for example. Furthermore, the idea that the
agency that regulates this industry is not even privy to such
information is ludicrous. Why require an investigation before the
identity and concentrations of these chemicals is known? As the
fracking fluid rule is stands now, what’s to stop someone from
even using an illegal chemical? Far be it from us to pretend we
are experts on fracking fluids. We are not. Still, what we do know
is many, if not most, drilling operators already post the
ingredients on the Internet they use and the maximum
concentrations in their recipes. Letting anyone opt out of
divulging this information as a trade secret is, at best,
wrong-headed. At worst, a betrayal of the public’s trust. This is
no trade secret. Someone just doesn’t want anyone to know what it
is and how much of it’s being put in the ground. Unlike many
secrets — secret societies, oaths and proceedings — the concept of
trade secrets is not repugnant to us. However, this does not
qualify as one. It’s simply an attempt to mislead the public. And
it’s already even failed to do that.