The fracking industry won a big decision in Wyoming this past week, because a judge decided to be an industry puppet and decided to ignore protections for people and the environment. It was a shocking, double-whammy decision.

With this decision, the industry can continue to keep secret the chemicals it mixes into its friggin’ fracking concoction.

And why did this judge make this decision? My jaw dropped when I read the following paragraph from the AP article:

Natrona County District Judge Catherine Wilking has ruled that Wyoming’s state oil and gas supervisor was correct to withhold the ingredient lists as protected trade secrets.

So can any product manufacturer in the country now decide to stop posting ingredients on food labels? Can the tobacco industry now include more harmful ingredients in its products and strip the list off labels? If this Wyoming judge has his way, they can just all hide behind “trade secrets.”

If we see a wave of people getting sick after eating some product, the manufacturer can merely refuse to tell the public what the problem might be. It’s a trade secret.

But there was at least one piece of news in the article that was not shocking at all. Halliburton was involved in arguing against disclosing the ingredients in fracking fluids.

So once again, GREED wins and we loose. Once again, we see firm evidence of the power some corporations have over not only the federal and state governments, but also over the court system. Corporatism is taking a deeper and deeper hold over our country and this story offers another key piece of evidence.

 

PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and Logic