AlterNet, By Andrew Breiner: Drilling Company Bans Young Children

from talking about Fracking, Forever. When drilling company Range Resources offered the Hallowich family a $750, 000 settlement to relocate from their fracking-polluted home in Washington County, Pennsylvania, it came with a common restriction. Chris and Stephanie Hallowish would be forbidden from ever speaking about fracking or the Marcellus Shale. But one element of the gag order was all new. The Hallowichs' two young children, ages 7 and 10, would be subject to the same restrictions, banned from speaking about their family's experience for the rest of their lives. The Hallowich family's gag order is only the most extreme example of a tactic that critics say effectively silences anyone hurt by fracking. It's a choice between receiving compensation for damage done to one's health and property, or publicizing the abuses that caused the harm. Virtually no one can forgo compensation, so their stories go untold. Bruce Baizel, Energy Program Director at Earthworks, an environmental group focusing on mineral and energy development, said in a phone interview that the companies' motives are clear. "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." There have been attempts to measure the number of settlements with non-disclosure agreements, Baizel said,but yo no avail. "They don't have to be registered, they don't have to be filed. It's kind of a black hole." The Hallowich case shows how drilling companies can use victims' silence to rewrite their story. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that before their settlement, the Hallowichs complained that drilling
caused "burning eyes, sore throats, headaches and contaminated their water supply." But after the family was gagged, gas exploration company Range Resources' spokesman Matt Pitzarella insisted "they never produced evidence of any health impacts," and that the family wanted to move because"they had unusual amount of activity around around them." Public records show, once again, that fracking did not cause health problems. It's not the only time gas exploration companies have gone to great lengths to keep the health problems caused by fracking under wraps. A 2012 Pennsylvania law requires companies to tell doctors the chemical contents of fracking fluids , so long as doctors don't reveal that information, even to patients they are treating for fracking-related illness. Sharon Wilson, an organizer with Earthworks, said that was the point. "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." She makes it clear she doesn't blame the families who take the settlements. "They do what they have to do to protect themselves and their children."