CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Landowners, citizen groups and environmentalists are concerned about legislation now before the House of Delegates that would allow drilling companies to keep secret the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Outreach coordinator Chuck Wyrostok, West Virginia Sierra Club, said the industry, led by the huge oilfield service company, Halliburton Corp., has convinced lawmakers in several states to treat the chemical formulas as trade secrets.

The drilling service company wants to do the same thing is West Virginia, Wyrostok warned. That is acting with contempt for the people living around Marcellus natural gas drilling, he said.

"It's pretty ludicrous to say, 'We're gonna pump secret chemicals into the ground, and we're gonna transport them through your towns, past your schools. And I'm sorry, you just can't know what they are,'" Wyrostok said.

Senate Bill 243 inserts what Wyrostok and others call the "Halliburton dirty-secrets amendment" into a bundle of rules proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection. It has passed the Senate and is now before the House Judiciary Committee.

Drillers use hundreds of chemicals to help break up the rock deep underground and get the gas out. Halliburton spokesmen have said the company wants to keep competitors from learning its formulas. But critics say it is more likely they don't want landowners and residents to know.

There are practical reasons for not treating the fracking formulas like CIA secrets, Wyrostok pointed out.

"Say a truck going through a town in West Virginia crashes or ruptures, and no one knows what the chemicals are. How do the first responders react to that? They don't know what's in that truck."

Landowners have a hard time testing their well water for contaminates if they don't know what they're looking for, he said, noting that doctors would have to ask the companies what chemicals might be making their patients sick. No one knows how long the company might take to respond, Wyrostok said, or even if it would. Plus, if the doctors find out what the chemicals are, the new rule would forbid them from telling anyone, he added.

"Basically, it's a gag order," he said. "I don't think the medical community is gonna go along with that. Doctors in Pennsylvania are suing the state over it."

Information about the status of SB 243 is available at http://www.legis.state.wv.us.




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BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Last month's deadly heat wave in the Northwest underscored the need to reduce carbon emissions, but advocates want to ensure low-income communities aren't left behind.

Rose Lathrop, program director for Sustainable Connections, based in Bellingham, said electrifying buildings is key, since they are the fastest-growing source of carbon pollution in Washington state.

"That's up 50% from 1990, and that's due to gas and oil appliances like furnaces, hot-water heaters and stoves," Lathrop outlined. "So the more of this infrastructure that we place inside of homes, the more likely we're going to see internal gas leaks."

Lathrop noted appliances like gas stoves also negatively affect indoor air quality, which is an even greater concern during heat waves when people need to spend more time inside. A recent study found communities of color are disproportionately exposed to heat in cities across the country.

She added replacing gas infrastructure is difficult in older residential buildings, and will become a growing issue for low-income communities.

"How do we electrify those in a way that doesn't harm our low-income communities, and in fact should support them and help them through a positive transition?" Lathrop asked. "And at the end of the day, it's going to take funding."

Lathrop pointed out local governments and Washington state are moving to reduce pollution from buildings, but believes policy without funding will not be effective. She argued the transition away from the use of fuels such as natural gas in buildings needs to be under way now.

"All of our new construction should already be zero-carbon construction," Lathrop asserted. "It's easy enough to do. We have the technology, and we have the capacity to do it."

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. -- The Minnesota Court of Appeals has upheld approvals of permits for the Line 3 oil pipeline.

The move is seen as a win for Enbridge Energy, the company behind the project, but tribal activists opposed to the effort say they'll keep fighting.

In a 2-to-1 decision, the court said state regulators acted properly when giving their consent to Line 3, which is being built to replace an aging oil pipeline that runs across northern Minnesota.

Winona LaDuke is one of the leading tribal advocates speaking out against Line 3. She said the state, including Gov. Tim Walz, has let them down.

"I am so dismayed by the Court of Appeals, and we will stand in resistance with thousands of others," LaDuke vowed. "This summer is young."

She contended the ruling will result in more people arrested or hurt, with opposition surfacing along the construction route. Last week, protesters held their largest gathering yet, resulting in arrests after people locked themselves to equipment.

Meanwhile, LaDuke emphasized they are pleading with the Biden administration to intervene. Canada-based Enbridge said Line 3 creates thousands of jobs, and that high degrees of safety are being applied to construction and maintenance.

Installation of Line 3 is nearly 60% complete, and the court noted its presence, while troublesome to many groups and tribal members, is less of an environmental risk than the current line. But LaDuke said it's a direct threat to natural resources tribes rely on.

"All of our wild-rice watersheds are now subject to Enbridge's aggression and destruction," LaDuke asserted.

Even if this decision is appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, opponents worry it would take a long time before a ruling is issued, which is why they want President Joe Biden to take action with construction moving forward.

BEMIDJI, Minn. -- Scores of protesters have gathered in northern Minnesota in hopes of halting the Line 3 oil pipeline project. Native American activists and their allies want to stop construction as the work nears a final phase.

In what's being billed as a Treaty People Gathering, opponents this week rallied at the headwaters of the Mississippi River before marching to an area where the pipeline and river meet. Protesters say they're engaging in civil disobedience, including attempts to block a pumping station.

Tara Houska, tribal attorney and environmental and Indigenous rights advocate, livestreamed from some of the events, noting the movement centers around protecting natural resources for tribal communities.

"What's really important to us is our water, our lives, our children, our futures, the animals, the plants, the sacred all around us," Houska asserted.

Organizers expected crowds of at least 1,500. The latest opposition efforts come amid an expected court ruling this month on a challenge to the state's approval of Line 3.

The project is being carried out by Canada-based Enbridge Energy, which argued the move is needed because the existing line is aging, while adding Line 3 creates thousands of jobs. Construction is already past the halfway point.

A group calling itself Minnesotans for Line 3 issued a statement criticizing the protests, while claiming the new line will make it safer to transport energy, but Houska and the many opponents who have gathered in the region say they remain undeterred.

"Beautiful water protectors from all walks of life, standing together, standing strong, standing up for Mother Earth," Houska remarked.

Opponents continue to pressure President Joe Biden to intervene. They say the construction disregards Native American treaty rights. They also say Line 3 would cross more than 200 bodies of water in Minnesota, including dozens of wild rice lakes, as well as sensitive watersheds.

Media outlets with reporters at the scene of the protest, including Minnesota Public Radio, said authorities moved in late Monday to arrest protesters inside the pump station, as hundreds of other activists faced off with law enforcement outside the facility.