ThinkingBlue: The Halliburton Loophole Via Dick Cheney

The Halliburton Loophole

It is hard to believe the blatant, out N' out criminal activities that went on during the Bush/Cheney years, under the eyes of the law and without consequences. Illegal wars, spying on the people without their knowledge, torture, UNCONSTITUTIONAL LOOPHOLES. (Read This) Are we really free? This doesn't sound like freedom to me. If it weren't for the freedom of the press that produce media iconoclasts like Jon Stewart, our so called freedom would be in name only. I'm to the point that I don't trust any politician. When I see one of them speaking on TV, I turn off the sound and believe me, you could not tell if Mr. or Ms. Politician was an "R" or a "D"... their mannerisms are so similar. Just a bunch of greedy individuals all worried about their own rice bowls. They're
supposed to represent us but they do anything but represent us. The only representing they do is for self interest. So again, if it weren't for people like Jon Stewart, Thom Hartmann, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and the like, we might as well be living in the closed society of Iran for all the truths we would be able to learn. thinkingblue

PS: Please watch The Jon Stewart Show clip below and read The New York Time Opinion Article and learn, learn, learn.

A Mark Twain Quote:
"Sir, I have been through it from Alpha to Omaha, and I tell you that the less a man knows the bigger the noise he makes and the higher the salary he commands."
"How I Edited an Agricultural Paper," 1870

WATCH Josh Fox on The Daily Show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Josh Fox
www.thedailyshow.com

The Halliburton Loophole
Opinion from the New York Times

Times Topics: Oil and Gasoline
A version of this article appeared in print on November 3, 2009, on page A28 of the New York edition.Published: November 2, 2009
Among the many dubious provisions in the 2005 energy bill was
one dubbed the Halliburton loophole, which was inserted at
the behest of — you guessed it — then-Vice
President Dick Cheney, a former chief executive of Halliburton.

It stripped the Environmental Protection Agency of its
authority to regulate a drilling process called hydraulic
fracturing. Invented by Halliburton in the 1940s, it involves
injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals, some of
them toxic, into underground rock formations to blast them
open and release natural gas.

Hydraulic fracturing has been implicated in a growing number
of water pollution cases across the country. It has become
especially controversial in New York, where regulators are
eager to clear the way for drilling in the New York City
watershed, potentially imperiling the city’s water
supply. Thankfully, the main company involved has now decided
not to go ahead.

The safety of the nation’s water supply should not have
to rely on luck or the public relations talents of the oil
and gas industry. Thanks in part to two New Yorkers —
Representative Maurice Hinchey and Senator Charles Schumer
— Congress last week approved a bill that asks the
E.P.A. to conduct a new study on the risks of hydraulic
fracturing. An agency study in 2004 whitewashed the industry
and was dismissed by experts as superficial and politically
motivated. This time Congress is demanding “a
transparent, peer-reviewed process.”

An even more important bill is waiting in the wings.
Cumbersomely named the Fracturing Responsibility and
Awareness of Chemicals Act, it would close the loophole and
restore the E.P.A.’s rightful authority to regulate
hydraulic fracturing. It would also require the oil and gas
industry to disclose the chemicals they use.

The industry argues that the chemicals are proprietary
secrets and that disclosing them would hurt their
competitiveness. It also argues that the process is basically
safe and that regulating it would deter domestic production.
But if hydraulic fracturing is as safe as the industry says
it is, why should it fear regulation?

Watch A Fracking Mess 'GASLAND' here

RNC Document Mocks Donors, Plays on 'Fear'

Thom Hartmann on Freespeech TV

New Robes For SCOTUS

Please sign this very important petition "demand question time" (of our
political leaders) HERE..
We really need more dialog from those at the top... The
Republicans have got to be made to realize they can't hide behind
"NO" any longer! thinkingblue