I respectfully submit that, if natural gas is coming from fracking, people and the land and water affected in the region would be better
protected if companies such as Halliburton or Statoil were statutorily required to
disclose all risks and all chemicals pumped into the earth and state in
full candor whether their fracking practices harm(ed) the environment now or in the future. And if so, be forced to pay the price to meet a higher standard or phase out the practice.
Plus, existing laws which forbid mining and upstream gas operations not
tenable or commensurate with good husbandry and good stewardship of lands need
to be enforced. Is pollution happening? Is tainted/radioactive waste water being diluted and allowed to enter water treatment supplies? The resources and land need to be seen
not merely as "ours to keep" and "exploit," come what may, but for us to respect
and handle sustainably. This is what my Dad, who was director of the Dakota
Leadership Program, woke me up about one November morning when Jimmy Carter was elected
president. He was so thrilled that a conservator had been chosen to lead our
country. I notice how silent people get when anything political is mentioned. And I hope Statoil has the guts to admit its ways are flawed and acknowledge their software helps in making harm happen more quickly.
A new thought comes to me: I once met a potato pathologist from Grand Forks, ND who was assigned to
help work out what had blighted part of a potato crop in the Ukraine. We
happened to be sitting next to each other on a long-haul flight and I
recognized the worn round spot on the butt pocket of his jeans from his can of SKOAL, outing him as a Dakotan. Imagine: he was sent so far abroad to help reveal what was going wrong with
farming the earth on another continent.
Perhaps soil and farming specialists can also help explain what's wrong with the approach being taken in their very own back yard in places like Williston, in a faraway corner of North Dakota, using Statoil's fracking expertise and proprietary and undisclosed chemical cocktail right in our potato pathologist's own state.
Perhaps soil and farming specialists can also help explain what's wrong with the approach being taken in their very own back yard in places like Williston, in a faraway corner of North Dakota, using Statoil's fracking expertise and proprietary and undisclosed chemical cocktail right in our potato pathologist's own state.
