7 Ways the Oil and Gas Industry is Buying Fracking Policy

7 Ways the Oil and Gas Industry is Buying Fracking Policy by Wenonah Hauter, August 17, 2011 Huffingtonpost
How does the industry keep contamination under wraps? It pays settlement fees to families whose water has been contaminated by shale gas drilling — fees that hinge on the landowner signing a confidentiality agreement to keep details about the case from government agencies, the media and the public. As highlighted in a recent New York Times article, the industry pays to keep details of the public safety problems associated with gas drilling hidden from government agencies that could do something to regulate it. This has been happening for decades, and it allows the industry to continue using one of its most disingenuous talking points: that there have been no documented cases of contamination from gas drilling.