Exhibit B has been restored to the court record. According to reporting by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the young Hallowich children where intentionally included in the order that gagged them for life. This is in direct contrast to what Range Resources general counsel, David Poole said.
Two years after settlement, Marcellus Shale files in Washington County case full and public
Washington County gas well accord to be restored to court record
By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 12, 2013 12:46 pmAfter the release of the transcript, Range denied that it ever intended for the gag order to apply to the children.
Peter Villari, the Philadelphia attorney who represented the Hallowiches, said the company is trying to save face and that during the settlement negotiations, “the gag order was discussed and argued, and in the end they insisted on a blanket gag order or there would be no settlement.”
The first paragraph of the agreement restored to the court record today seems to support Mr. Villari. It defines the parties to the settlement.
Range, MarkWest and Williams Gas/Laurel Mountain are collectively referred to as the “operators.” The document refers collectively to “Stephanie and Chris Hallowich and their children” as “the Hallowiches” throughout the agreement.
There is no indication in the settlement that the Hallowich children are excluded from the lifetime stipulation that the Hallowiches not talk publicly about the agreement or Marcellus Shale development.
Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella could not be reached for comment. Earlier this month, the company said it never intended to include the children in the non-disclosure agreement.
But Mr. Pitzarella reiterated today that Range Resources never intended to include the children in thenon-disclosure agreement.
UPDATE: I want to remind you of the somewhat threatening letter from David Poole who is the Range general counsel. In his letter he admits that–regarding the Hallowich non-disclosure agreement–the buck stops with him. He admits full responsibility for “negotiating and approving the terms.” Then he goes on in the letter to say that he was “not aware that there was even a discussion of the applicability of the non-disparagement language in the settlement agreement to the Hallowich children…”
Given what you see in Exhibit B and what was reported buy the PPG, how can both of those statements be true?
UPDATE: Please remember, the Hallowich children are still gagged for life. Nothing has changed there.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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Having dealt with David Poole and Range Resources in the past the only thing about this information which surprises me is Range and Mr. Cess Poole did not gag any unborn children also.
Don’t give them ideas.
Sharon, I can’t stiffle my imagination. I can see the headlines now:
Frac company hit with record fine for contaminating aquifer with methane and toluene, Signs gag order with harmed couple’s eggs and sperm, and their eggs and sperm, and their eggs and sperm, ad infinitum.
Investors applaud frac gag orders on eggs ‘n sperm, Profits rise dramatically even as shale well production levels hit stunning lows.
Commercial liability insurance providers suddenly cancel coverage for frac companies, subcontractors and their consultants and legal firms, Concerns escalate over millions of eggs ‘n sperm filing lawsuits for rights violations.
Sharon, thanks so much for raising global awareness on this Range Gag-the-children Scandal and continuing to keep this appalling frac contamination case in the spotlight.
I love this visual, have you any versions of children, or perhaps eggs and sperm? Or would that be considered abuse?
http://www.texassharon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Non-Disclosure-Agreements-large.jpg
Maybe we should make a children’s version.
yes, with two children, a boy and a girl
A very very interesting article about the situation in Texas.
A Texan tragedy: ample oil, no water
Fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty.
Three years of drought, decades of overuse and now the oil industry’s outsize demands on water for fracking are running down reservoirs and underground aquifers. And climate change is making things worse.
Nearly 15 million people are living under some form of water rationing, barred from freely sprinkling their lawns or refilling their swimming pools.
In adjacent Crockett county, fracking accounts for up to 25% of water use, according to the groundwater conservation district.
The Guardian, Sunday 11 August 2013
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/11/texas-tragedy-ample-oil-no-water
The amount of water used by industry is estimated from numbers given by industry itself. Hear this: They are lying. They use much, much more water than we think.
You have no proof of any kind concerning fracing. All you have is one court case based on a well drilled out of the over 100,000 multi-frac lateral reach wells drilled. I have only read the conspiracy theories and out right lies from a group of people that know nothing of the actual process of drilling these wells. I have been researching this subject for 38 years. Started when they said the industry would wipe out the caribou herds in Alaska. All they have found out in Alaska is the benzene separates from crude when it is stored. Injection wells are the problem and you need to learn about why they are used.