Republican Now Want to JAIL Anyone Who Discloses Fracking Chemicals

The GOP of North Carolina is taking steps to ensure that their population remains ignorant of the dangerous chemicals and materials used during fracking, by passing a law that makes it a felony to disclose what chemicals are used in the fracking process. The bill, introduced on Thursday by three Republicans, including a member of the Republican leadership, establishes procedures for fire chiefs and healthcare providers so they can obtain the information in matters of emergency, but the corporate overlords have spoken, and the guinea pigs on the street have to remain ignorant — or else.

The bill also requires that emergency responders who receive the information sign confidentiality agreements, meaning that they can’t share, either. It’s not made clear what the penalty for sharing that information is for healthcare providers and first responders. The bill would also prevent local governments from passing any rules or regulations on fracking, as well as impede water testing procedures.

For some reason, the issue of what chemicals are used is a contentious issue. The companies claim that these potentially cancerous chemicals are a “proprietary secret,” while public safety advocate rightly claim that they’re a public hazard and that if they’re going to be forced into our drinking water, we should at least know what they are.

Hannah Wiseman, a Florida State University assistant law professor who studies fracking regulations, said of the bill:

The felony provision is far stricter than most states’ provisions in terms of the penalty for violating trade secret . . . I think the only penalties to fire chiefs and doctors, if they talked about it at their annual conference, would be the penalties contained in the confidentiality agreement. But [the bill] is so poorly worded, I cannot confirm that if an emergency responder or fire chief discloses that confidential information, they too would not be subject to a felony.

She adds that in some sections of the bill, this appears to be the case, and goes on to say that:

It allows for trade secrets to remain trade secrets, it provides only limited exceptions for reasons of emergency and health problems, and provides penalties for failure to honor the trade secret

If you remember North Carolina for anything, remember that back in February there was a massive rupture of a coal ash pool that flooded into the nearby Dan River, courtesy of Duke Energy. Republican Governor Pat McCrory’s top environmental regulators basically allowed it to happen by thwarting three suits against Duke Energy that may have prevented the disaster.

Was there ever a clearer admission of where the Republican loyalties lie? These obsequious corporate boot-lickers willingly and potentially sacrifice children to leukemia and other diseases caused by god only knows what chemicals in their fracking processes, and sacrifice our environment to the Golden Calf on Wall Street without a care in the world, so long as they make money.