There's never much chance of fracking companies ending up on Santa's "nice" list, considering that polluting our air and water and making people sick is a regular part of how they do business. But while the movement to ban fracking made great strides in 2014, most notably with the recent ban in New York, the oil and gas industry seemed to go the extra mile this year to get onto the "naughty" list. Even here at Food & Water Watch, we were surprised by some of the dirty tactics some fracking companies used to attempt to sway public opinion and win over lawmakers.
Here are a few of the most unbelievable fracking industry stunts that made the news in 2014:
5. Sorry about that explosion. Here, have a pizza.
When a Chevron fracking well exploded in the small town of Bobtown, Pa. this February, you can imagine how upset the residents were. The fire from the explosion burned for days, and they couldn't be sure whether toxins were released into their air. One 27-year-old worker was killed. But Chevron made it up to them... with coupons for a free pizza.
One pizza. That's Chevron's idea of fair compensation for an explosion that put homes, families and workers in danger. And what happened in Bobtown isn't an isolated incident - just this month, 25 families in Ohio were forced to evacuate their homes due to potentially explosive methane leaking from a nearby fracking well.
4. This is not what they meant by "job creation"
Grassroots organizations like Food & Water Watch often work with concerned locals to pack hearing rooms and show decision-makers that the community opposes fracking. In September, a pro-fracking industry group called North Carolina Energy Coalition tried to do the same... but failed. Instead of bringing community members who actually supported them, it bused in a group of homeless people who knew nothing about fracking. Several of the homeless men admitted that they were paid to attend, and didn't know why until they arrived.
It wouldn't surprise us if the industry couldn't find people genuinely supportive of fracking to attend a hearing, but paying people to pretend they support fracking is a cheap trick.
3. Getting cozy with Dr. Evil
Food & Water Watch and our activists must really be making the fracking industry nervous, because this year the industry partnered with Richard "Dr. Evil" Berman to attack us and other anti-fracking organizations. Berman is notorious for using underhanded tactics to make advocacy organizations look bad, going so far as to dig up information on the titles of board members' cars. What's next, going through activists' trash?
2. NIMBY-ist of the year
Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon and hypocrite extraordinaire, got involved in a lawsuit against fracking in his neighborhood. That's right, he's trying to stop fracking near his home. He still insists that people should be fine with fracking happening in their backyards - he just doesn't want it in his backyard.
1. Fighting breast cancer... you're doing it wrong
The world is full of feel-good pink products that do little or nothing to fight breast cancer. Fracking company Baker Hughes claimed to do their part this year by partnering with Susan G. Komen to create the most egregious piece of pinkwashing ever: pink fracking drill bits. The part that makes this disgusting instead of laughable is that fracking fluid contains carcinogens. Fracking increases people's risk of cancer, and using pink drill bits won't magically change that.
There you have it: a few of the many reasons why the fracking industry indeed deserves a big lump of coal this year. Or should we say, ahem, a big glass of fracking fluid.
