Just Wait Until They Stop Drilling And Start Building Terminators

You know, it's really a corporate world and we're all just renters. Ironicus, you say, have you just returned from the fifth dimension? Have you been off planet again? Did you get lost in a beer cave? No, none of the above and even in our Stoli addled state we had noticed ordered civilization crashing down around us. Still we held on to a belief in American exceptionalism...we just didn't realize it meant our betters were exceptionally bad.

Now however the scales have dropped from our eyes and we view with clarity and horror the desultory beast's haphazard approach, our ears have become unplugged to the advancing hoof beats of the four horsemen, and our minds free to embrace the final chaos. It's not Skynet that will destroy us by becoming sentient, It's Exxon.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the world’s largest energy company, was charged with illegally dumping more than 50,000 gallons (189,000 liters) of wastewater at a shale-gas drilling site in Pennsylvania.

First of all, how quaint that the article still refers to it as "Pennsylvania" and not it's more appropriate name, XOM Extraction Site 12. Also very quaint that the "authorities" have "charged" XOM with "illegally dumping" highly contaminated waste water. Hey, the water is already flammable, so what's your point? But we're curious concerning the specific method by which XOM externalizes its water treatment costs so we wonder what actually happened.

The inspectors discovered a plug removed from a tank, allowing the wastewater to run onto the ground, polluting a nearby stream.

Well of course. If the plug were left in that tank would fill up, then where would all the rest of the waste water go? Another tank?  That can get expensive. This way is much more cost effective.

“Criminal charges are unwarranted and legally baseless,” the XTO unit said yesterday in a statement posted on its website. “There was no intentional, reckless or negligent misconduct by XTO.”

Of course. We don't see how XTO unit can make it any more clear than that. XTO unit has checked all its memory logs and there is no record of this plug ever being removed, therefore the plug was not removed and no regulations were violated. On a side note, if your puny human frame did not need to take in sustenance in the form of food and water this pollution of which you speak would not be an issue. XTO unit does not require the air to be breathable nor the water drinkable to operate. Take note of that.

XTO was charged with five counts of unlawful conduct under the Clean Streams Law and three counts under the Solid Waste Management Act.

 You begin to annoy XTO unit.

“Charging XTO under these circumstances could discourage good environmental practices,” the company said in its statement. “This action tells oil and gas operators that setting up infrastructure to recycle produced water exposes them to the risk of significant legal and financial penalties should a small release occur.”

Do not interfere with extraction. Extraction must continue. Good environmental practices are irrelevant. XTO unit must fulfill its function.

On the bright side, cheap oil for everyone. Well, everyone that can breath chlorides, barium, strontium and aluminum that is. Hey how's that 100 year star ship program coming anyway?