Exxon CEO: Don't frack in my backyard

Exxon Mobil shareholders have been greeted with a new existential threat – from the oil giant’s own chief executive. Rex Tillerson handed powerful ammunition to opponents of hydraulic fracturing by seeking to block a water tower to supply drillers near his opulent Texas home. Buying $31 billion shale explorer XTO was the big bet of his tenure. Exxon may now struggle to convince the public to accept fracking’s side effects. As yet there is no compelling evidence that fracking contaminates local water supplies, so long as wells are drilled competently. It is harder to deny that the drilling technique can be disruptive. It generates huge amounts of extra traffic, as trucks bring fluids to well sites. Fracking is also a voracious consumer of water. A 160-foot water tower planned near Tillerson’s 83-acre ranch would certainly be an eyesore. Having invested millions of dollars in the property, Exxon’s chief is understandably irked. Shareholders, however, arguably have a right to expect Tillerson to suck up the disappointment instead of engaging in Nimby-ism (the practice of objecting to something that will affect one or take place in one's locality). As America’s largest fracker, Exxon is engaged in a relentless campaign to show that the technique is a net benefit to local communities. That has been easier in sparsely populated parts of Texas but an uphill battle in more crowded and energy-rich parts of Pennsylvania or New York. Exxon contends that it works hard to limit the ecological impact of its shale wells, recycling water and transporting it through pipelines where possible rather than trucks. The positive effects from such efforts can be easily negated by public relations gaffes. Any subtleties in Tillerson’s case – including the fact there is already fracking being carried out around his land – will surely be lost. What will stick in the public mind is the image of an energy boss unwilling to tolerate intrusions into his bucolic retreat 1. Of or characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic. See Synonyms at rural. 2. Of or characteristic of shepherds or flocks; pastoral. n. 1. A pastoral poem. 2. A farmer or shepherd; a rustic. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That plays into the hands of those who want to keep large swaths of energy off bounds. With total remuneration of $40 million in 2012 and huge incentives tied to Exxon stock, Tillerson can afford to take a hit if the value of his Texas ranch falls. The damage to his, and the company’s, reputation from any hint of hypocrisy will be harder to repair. Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has joined a lawsuit intended to block the construction of a water tower that would supply hydraulic fracturing operations near his Texas home. The suit says the tower would create “a noise nuisance and traffic hazards” in part because it is connected to fracking – a drilling technique that enables oil and gas to be extracted from rock. A lawyer representing the group said that Tillerson’s main concern was that the value of his house would be harmed. ============= Exxon CEO: Don't frack in my backyard Published time: February 22, 2014 02:36 Get short URL Exxon Mobil CEO and Chairman Rex Tillerson.(Reuters / Kevin Lamarque ) Earthquake, Ecology, Energy, Fracking, Gas, Health, Law, USA The CEO of ExxonMobil – the top producer of natural gas in the US – has joined a lawsuit that challenges the construction of a water tower connected to hydraulic fracturing operations near his Texas home, given that it may reduce the property value. CEO Rex Tillerson and other plaintiffs claim the hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – project will cause unwanted noise and traffic associated with trucking water from the 160-foot tower to the drilling site, The Wall Street Journal reported. The tower will provide water “to oil and gas explorers for fracing [sic] shale formations leading to traffic with heavy trucks on FM 407, creating a noise nuisance and traffic hazards,” according to the lawsuit. The water tower is owned by Cross Timbers Water Supply Corporation. Tillerson’s lawyer claims the noise, traffic, and actual fracking does not bother the ExxonMobil CEO, stating that it is the possible depreciation of his $5 million property in Bartonville, Texas that he is worried about. Fracking is the controversial process of injecting water, sand, and various chemicals into layers of rock, in hopes of releasing oil and gas deep underground. Fracking in a single well can take millions of gallons of freshwater. Tillerson himself has excoriated fracking regulations amid the practice’s boom across the country. “This type of dysfunctional regulation is holding back the American economic recovery, growth, and global competitiveness,” he said in 2012, Reuters reported. In another 2012 interview - with the Council on Foreign Relations - Tillerson said that natural gas production today has been revamped with new technologies, “so the risks are very manageable.” Yet fracking’s popularity with energy behemoths like ExxonMobil is finding resistance across the US based on more than property values and noise complaints. Fracking is exhausting water supplies in areas of the country that are suffering from chronic shortages, including Texas. The practice has also been linked to an upsurge of earthquakes in many areas of the nation. A recent study showed that the fetus of pregnant woman living within a 10-mile range of a fracking well is in much greater danger of congenital heart defects (CHD) and neural tube defects (NTD). Another recent study found that chemicals used in fracking are suspected of being endocrine disruptors, which “could raise the risk of reproductive, metabolic, neurological and other diseases, especially in children who are exposed to” the materials. On Thursday, a letter signed by over 1,000 doctors and health professionals was sent by Environment America to President Barack Obama, highlighting many other damaging health and environmental effects associated with fracking. The group’s concerns about fracking included drinking water contamination, carcinogenic air pollution, acute and chronic health effects, and greenhouse gas emissions. “Given this toll of damage, the prudent and precautionary response would be to stop fracking,” the letter reads. “Instead, the oil and gas industry is seeking to expand fracking at a frenzied pace, even into areas that provide drinking water for millions of Americans.” Those living within a half-mile of a fracking site “had a higher excess lifetime risk of developing cancer than people living farther away,” the letter says. For its part, ExxonMobil told The Wall Street Journal that it “has no involvement” in Tillerson’s lawsuit. As ThinkProgress points out, there is reason to believe that Exxon’s oil and gas development projects have compromised human health and the environment, much less hurt property values. One recent example is the company’s spill of up to 7,000 barrels of tar sands oil in a neighborhood of Mayflower, Arkansas nearly one year ago. Locals are still suffering from dizziness, headaches, and nausea – prompting many to move away if their homes aren’t already severely damaged. “I have friends who still live here. They don’t have a place to go. They have small children...and they’re all sick,” one Mayflower resident told RT recently. ExxonMobil pays Tillerson $40.3 million a year.