Farmer silences oil and gas committee with invitation to drink fracking water

[cal04]

Hearing on Fracking Wastewater Well in Sioux County, NE

(snip)
Explaining that he has ties to the oil industry and that he is still on the fence about fracking, Osbourne explained fluid dynamics to the board while pouring out three cups of the sludgy water that could result from spills or from seeping into the water table.

Referring to earlier testimony, Osbourne said, “So you told me this morning that you would drink this water,” as he indicated the cups.

“So would you drink it? Yes or no?” he asked, only to be met by silence by the stone-faced group before a member explained they wouldn’t be answering any questions.

“Oh, you can’t answer any questions? Well my answer would be ‘no.’ I don’t want this in the water that will travel entirely across this state in three days,” Osborne said. “There is no doubt there will be contamination. There will be spills.”


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/watch-nebraska-farmer-silences-oil-and-gas-committee-with-invitation-to-drink-water-tainted-by-fracking/

[Coventina]

1. Awesome!!

On edit: what kind of hearing doesn't allow Q & A?

[daleanime]

3. The kind that doesn't care......

about you.

[stone space]

2. I prefer to mix my fracking water with a little roundup for added flavor.

Plain fracking water is way too bland for my tastes.

[closeupready]

17. lol - yup.

[jomin41]

4. power of one

I liked what he said at the end about the power of one and everyone can make a difference.

[ND-Dem]

5. kr

[justhanginon]

6. Why bother with Q and A,

we've already been paid and we doubt you could compete financially with the "Brothers" anyway. Done and done!

[valerief]

9. That's right. The hearing is Polluters Theater, SOP in the polluter handbook.

That poor guy is just shoveling shit against the tide.

[logosoco]

7. Love this guy!

Especially how he left the dirty water sitting there when he was done.

I do not understand how those people can sit there silent. Even with someone greasing their palms, this is just shameful (if they could feel shame!)

[paleotn]

11. Depends on how much grease.

humans will do some particularly evil things for the right price. Hell, sometimes you don't even have to pay them if you can make them feel they're right and in the club. That's what makes many people around me consistently support some rather noxious ideas, that are not in the least in their own best interests, but feel good about it all the same.

[DetlefK]

8. He should have approached the desk and asked that while holding the cup under their noses.

Let's see who flees when faced with a little bit of "water".

[Oilwellian]

10. Great presentation

I live in a very red area of Virginia and recently researched the fracking policies of my very red county. I learned our county supervisors banned fracking over three years ago. I totally missed the party. lol

This is one issue that all Americans can agree on. Fracking is detrimental to our health and well being and should be banned. Anything that is the brainchild of Dick Cheney, should be highly scrutinized.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. Why?

"Anything that is the brainchild of Dick Cheney, should be highly scrutinized."

Why not just reject it out of hand on the basis of the source?

[MisterP]

13. and that's what we call a "tactical alliance"

but of course the national-level party would rather play footsie and say fracking's the clean wave of the future--safe as milk, in fact!

[Geronimoe]

14. I thought Obama would change this

I thought the first thing Obama would do, is end Cheney's immunity on fracking industry pumping toxins into our water supply. I still can not fathom how any person with a sense of humanity can allow this practice.

We could be like Germany, invest in decentralized solar panels, on every rooftop and end funding wars for oil.

A good fist step in ending the wars, is prosecuting the war criminals.

Here again, I thought Americans would clean out Congress of all those that supported the illegal wars, but they are the ones who got re-elected and those that opposed the wars lost.

[erronis]

20. I'm sure there is a US law against that - independent energy!

I've already seen in Vermont where the electric company is starting to make it harder and more expensive to produce your own energy and try to recoup costs by feeding it back to the grid.

Can you imagine if someone came out with a really viable source of energy that didn't require Halliburton, Exxon-Mobile, ADM corn ethanol, Entergy, etc.

Well, those companies and industries are doing everything they can to make sure it can't happen. Buying up companies in the alternate energy sector, buying up regulators at the state and federal level, and if necessary, making sure the bright stars of this movement stop shining so brightly.

[jaxind]

15. No Question

When the panel said they don't answer questions, this gentleman should have said "OK, no question - here drink the water" and he should have just approached them with a cup of that contaminated water.

[cp]

16. Very powerful!

Power of one, indeed. Mr. Osbourne gave a superb presentation. Bravo, sir!
Loved that he left the crummy water on the table.

[postulater]

18. Sure. Transport fracking waste-water across the Ogallala aquifer? What could go wrong?

[JDPriestly]

19. K&R. I am wordless, and that is rare for me.