Fracking Halliburton site

Further to my earlier entry, Halliburton has indeed launched its own Web site about fracking.

Halliburton's press release touting the site heavily emphasizes its relatively new and supposedly cleaner fracking techniques. When it does get around to mentioning additives, i.e., everything used in the process other than sand and water, it stresses that these additives " typically comprise less than one-half of one-percent of the total water-and-sand-based solution." Left unsaid is exactly how toxic these additives are. There might be compounds that would be quite harmful, possibly even lethal, to human beings or their environment at 0.5 percent of such a mixture. And if these compounds leach into the water table, they could end up being at a higher concentration in the water that reaches your tap.

Right now, Halliburton's fracking pages (1) require Flash, which will make iOS users sad, and (2) aren't as comprehensive as you might expect. For instance, on the supposedly important fluids disclosure page, which one would think was the whole point of this exercise, Halliburton currently only lists formulations from Pennsylvania and the Northeast.

We tailor our fracturing fluids to different geologies, so the composition will vary by location. Over time, we'll be populating these pages with information from every state in which our services are in use. For now, we present information on several different fluid systems from Pennsylvania, a state where fracturing technology has already generated thousands of jobs for residents and billions in annual revenue for the state and local landowners.

When you need to mention the jobs and revenue your activities bring in, but cannot bring yourself to mention the harm to the environment and to human health that seems to be inescapably associated with your activities, you are not telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

And "over time"? Halliburton obviously knows the ingredients for all of its fracking recipes. It just as obviously has decided that the argument, "Our fracking blend is a trade secret that gives us a competitive edge," is not playing well in the public relations arena, so it has no reason to hide anything any more. The only reason it cannot publish all its fracking recipes today is, its public relations people are pulling all-nighters trying to come up with positive spins for each of those ingredients. Yes, each and every ingredient has a "common use" listing, highlighting its use in preparing items the typical consumer would recognize, like soap, cereal, or glue. Only this listing requires any extra effort from Halliburton, and it is undoubtedly only this effort to find innocuous common uses for its additives that is holding up full disclosure of all its fracking recipes.

Halliburton, your last chance to come clean (ahem) was this site. By so obviously making it a shallow public relations exercise rather than a good-faith effort to comply with the E.P.A.'s disclosure request, you have made it abundantly clear that you are not interested in the health and welfare of those who, directly and indirectly, are affected by your fracking activities. You're engaged in a dirty business that you're trying to whitewash and I hope your efforts fail dismally.