This Week's Frack News
Local Headlines
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Doctor Sues Over PA's Medical
Gag Rule
by: Erin McAuleyCourthouse News Service
Kowtowing to natural gas-drilling companies, Pennsylvania enacted an unconstitutional "Medical Gag Rule" that prevents doctors from speaking to patients or the public about the health dangers of fracking, under the guise that such speech would violate "trade secrets," a doctor claims in Federal Court.
Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez sued the Pennsylvania attorney general, its secretary of environmental protection and the chairman of its Public Utility Commission.
Rodriguez claims Act 13 of 2012, signed into law by Governor Corbett on Feb. 14, forces medical professionals into "a vague confidentiality agreement," and that obeying the law would force him "to violate ethical rules imposed upon him by the medical profession that could cost (him) his license to practice medicine within the Commonwealth."
Rodriguez says: "The Medical Gag Rule imposes a content-based restriction on the speech of health care practitioners receiving information from gas drilling companies on chemicals that a patient may have been exposed to..."
Rodriguez is a nephrologist, specializing in renal diseases, hypertension and advanced diabetes, in Dallas, Pa. He says his kidney patients need a pure source of water to remove toxins from their blood, and he receives daily alerts from the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and local water companies on the status of the water system.
Rodriguez says he "has recently treated patients directly exposed to high-volume hydraulic fracturing fluid as the result of well blowouts, including a patient exposed to hydraulic fracturing fluid who was admitted to the hospital with a complicated diagnosis with low platelets, anemia, rash and acute renal failure that required extensive hemodialysis and exposure to chemotherapeutic agents."
Rodriguez says he treats patients in "a county that is host to significant high-volume hydraulic fracturing gas drilling and toxic open-air wastewater impoundment ponds." He says his patients have been exposed to toxic fluids and environmental contamination caused by gas and oil operations in his community, that Medical Gag Rule requires him to violate medical ethics, which puts his license at risk.
"In general, hydraulic fracturing fluid contains a mixture of chemicals such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, microbiocides, glycols, glycol ethers, and petroleum products, many of which are known carcinogens," Rodriguez says in his complaint... The 'exact recipe' used at any specific gas drilling site is not a trade secret, but rather, an ad hoc concoction developed by the operators based on trial and error as well as general experience common to the gas drilling industry."
He adds that the toxic fluids often flow back to the surface, to be stored in wastewater impoundment ponds, and that "storing waste hydraulic fracturing fluid in open air impoundment ponds causes the toxic chemicals and other waste products to become more concentrated as water evaporates into the air." |
Gas Gossip
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Photo: Denbow
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"Gas workers are paid a $20 bounty for every NO FRACK yard sign they collect."
-Gas worker confession to an RDA member Know some juicy
Gas Gossip?
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Quote Of The Week
"The Commonwealth risks losing the chance to promote and grow a key economic driver to its full potential, perhaps irreparably so."
-from an application by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the state Supreme Court requesting an expedited hearing to appeal the decision declaring Act 13's zoning provisions unconstitutional
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DEP Needs You!
If You See Something, Say Something
While Corbett and Krancer are busy slicing the DEP's budget, the number of Marcellus shale operations is only increasing. We must be vigilant to protect our community's health.
Make note (better yet - take pictures!) of any unusual or suspicious activity you see. Then:
- For environmental emergencies, tell EPA, too.
- Finally, let RDA know so we can follow up and inform the community
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Help Improve RDA
News Coverage
Do you know of a story that RDA should cover? If so, e-mail us.
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Support RDA's Efforts
Are you interested in contributing your time, talents, or resources to seeking truth about shale gas development?
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Aussie Greens Visit Pine Creek Gas Field
 | | Aussie Greens Visit Pine Creek, PA Gas Field |
WILLIAMSPORT, PA
by: Morgan Myers
RDA Director of Communications and Outreach
On the last leg of their USA Frack Fact Finding Tour, a delegation of Australian Greens visited Pine Creek, PA. The Responsible Drilling Alliance served as their guide. RDA Environmental Scientist Kevin Heatley explained some of the cumulative effects of industrialization on the landscape and forest.
"The industry uses crushed limestone to pave their access roads, but our soil is naturally acidic," said Heatley. "So they're changing the pH of the soil forever."
Most of the shale plays the Aussies had visited were dry and flat: Texas, Wyoming, South Dakota. Pine Creek's rolling hills and lush vegetation offered a different perspective.
"Over 50% of people on Earth live in urban environments," said Greens Policy Advisor Justin Field. "This type of wilderness is unfamiliar to them, so they don't understand the loss."
The tour ended at Bull Run Vista.
"It's magical," said New South Wales Legislative Council Jeremy Buckingham of the view. "It's like a storybook landscape. You could have recreation, tourism, and clean water here for a million years. But with these wells across the top you're going to ruin it forever. This is the last remnants of what you have on the East Coast. A place like this should be looked after."
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"Stop The Frack Attack" Rally Sparks Debate Among RDA Members
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Photo: The Responsible Drilling Alliance
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WASHINGTON, DC
by: Morgan Myers
RDA Director of Communications and Outreach
Members of the Responsible Drilling Alliance and thousands of others from grassroots groups across the world met in Washington, DC last weekend for Stop The Frack Attack rally.
Dozens of US states and several countries were represented including Canada, South Africa, and Australia. Responsible Drilling Alliance estimates there were about 2,500 people total.
Speakers included Josh Fox, Director of Gasland, Lori New Breast of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Calvin Tilman, former Mayor of Dish, Texas, and others.
From the protest signs and rallying calls, the overall tone of the event was clear: ban fracking now. Still, not everyone in attendance agreed. Some asked for a moratorium or tighter regulations. " The reality is we as a state and a nation are going down the shale gas road," said one RDA member in attendance. "Time spent trying to ban it is time wasted. Instead we should push to hold producers accountable, to lobby for clean energy options, to seek justice for affected families, and to get the real costs of shale gas picked up by the industry and consumers."
"I think a ban is achievable, even in Pennsylvania," said another RDA member at the rally. "But I have friends in the industry and I don't want them to lose their jobs."
"From an economic standpoint, the ability to generate an income should not be dependent upon destroying the private rights of others or the public goods of all," said a third RDA member. "When my property value plummets because a well pad is put in next door without my permission, that is theft. It is an involuntary subsidy to your income when your job causes economic dislocation, health impacts, or other externalities to a third party."
One thing we all agree on, however, is that shale gas poses a threat to civil rights, public health, the environment, and quality of life. And that's why we went to DC.
Incognito representatives from the gas industry were also there, including shills from Energy in Depth. In their scathing coverage of the event, they dismiss the protesters as urban elites from areas where no shale gas development is taking place. Like many claims made by the industry, that's simply not true.
Not only did RDA attend (we're from Williamsport, PA), we met impacted landowners from shale states like Ohio, Wyoming, Texas, and West Virginia. The diversity of ideologies and backgrounds among attendees shows that fracking effects everyone, from wealthy urban elites to average Joes.
There's still lots of work to do, but Stop The Frack Attack helped raise the volume on the issue. One thing's for sure: resistance to dirty fossil fuels is a worldwide movement, and people struggling in Pennsylvania are not alone.
RDA Video From The Rally  | |
Stop The Frack Attack March
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 | | Fracking: A Native American Viewpoint |
 | | Fracking and Private Property Rights |
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Shale Gas Outrage
Responsible Drilling Alliance is on the Steering Committee for Shale Gas Outrage. RDA does not hold a pro-ban position at this time, but our membership agrees there is plenty to be outraged about when it comes to shale gas.
Wells require perpetual care, a long-term expense for which Pennsylvania has no budget. Our state assumes risk by developing natural gas, and without a severance tax that risk is uncompensated. Finally, RDA is outraged by the economic and environmental injustice perpetuated by pro-industry lawmakers in Harrisburg.
Responsible Drilling Alliance hopes to draw attention to the chronic gas-related issues facing Pennsylvanians. As such, RDA supports Shale Gas Outrage.
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