What the Frack?

The 7- and 10-year-old children of a Pennsylvania couple that reached a settlement following a lawsuit involving health issues brought on by fracking have been barred from discussing details of the case for the rest of their lives.

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The Pennsylvania family reached a $750,000 settlement with the gas companies, and have used the award to relocate. In exchange, however, Chris and Stephanie Hallowich agreed that no member of their family could comment on the case “in any fashion whatsoever.”

Details of the case only emerged recently when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette managed to get court transcripts released.

  

Yes, but I’m thinking that if the kids want to talk about it when they reach the age of 18 or so, they can, because after all, they are not of the age of consent now and surely can’t be held liable for agreements that their parents make. Or at least I think they would have a fair chance of winning a case based on that. Perhaps they will want to consult an attorney, however, if the time comes, rather than take my word for it. :-)

The family's attorney, Peter Villari, questioned whether the order would be enforceable.

"I, frankly, your Honor, as an attorney, to be honest with you, I don't know if that's possible that you can give up the First Amendment rights of a child," stated Villari.

Well, there you go.

According to a 2010 congressional investigation, Halliburton along with other fracking companies had used 32 million gallons of diesel products, including toxic chemicals such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. Low levels of exposure to such chemicals can trigger headaches and dizziness, while higher exposure can cause cancer.

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According to Bruce Baizel, Energy Program Director at Earthworks, which focuses on mineral and energy development, the motives behind restrictive gag orders post-settlements is to conceal any evidence of adverse environmental impact from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

“The refrain in the industry is, this is a safe process. There’s no record of contamination. That whole claim would be undermined if these things were public,” Baizel told ClimateProgress.

Moreover, attempts to measure the number of settlements with non-disclosure agreements have failed.

“They don’t have to be registered, they don’t have to be filed. It’s kind of a black hole,” says Baizel.

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“These gag orders are the reason [drillers] can give testimony to Congress and say there are no documented cases of contamination. And then elected officials can repeat that,” said Sharon Wilson, an organizer with Earthworks who also spoke with ClimateProgress.

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Prior to the settlement the Hallowichs said that nearby gas drilling had caused “burning eyes, sore throats, headaches and earaches, and contaminated their water supply.”

Once the settlement was reached and the gag order enacted, however, a spokesman for Range Resources stated that the family had “never produced evidence of any health impacts,” and that the Hallowichs primary motive for moving was instead due to “an unusual amount of activity around them.”

And out of the company’s boundless love for these people, it decided to grant them their wish to get away from it all.