Secretly injecting chemicals into soil is evil

• We simply can’t understand how a regularity agency is being blocked from doing its job.
• Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, has filed two bills that allow for the disclosure of fracking chemicals.

The first job of government is to keep us safe. Nothing should deter government from that role, especially laws passed by the same government.

It sounds crazy, and it is crazy, but that is what is happening right here in Southwest Florida.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is working to keep the drilling of oil and gas wells safe and it is interested in a drilling technique called “fracking.” In some cases, this technique involves injecting a dissolving solution of chemicals into the well to break up some fissures in the underlying rock, thereby freeing the oil to be pumped to the surface.

There is a question as to whether the chemicals involved are safe or whether they are toxic and dangerous to human health. But the DEP can’t know that because of a state law that allows drilling companies to keep “confidential trade secrets.”

The case in point involves the Dan A. Hughes Co. and a well it is drilling at Hogan Island, southwest of Lake Trafford in Collier County.

The DEP wants to know what chemicals are being used; the Hughes Company refuses to tell, citing the “trade secrets” law.

There is already reason to be wary of the company. The company used the technique for two days, refusing to honor a cease-and-desist order issued by the DEP before day two. As a result, Hughes was fined $25,000.

The pumping of water and chemicals into such wells, from its beginning just a few years back, has been opposed by environmental groups because of the suspected assault toxic chemicals in the ground water might have on humans.

Environmentalists and drilling opponents are especially concerned when they can’t find out which chemicals are being used. As are we.

How refusing to reveal which chemicals gives one company an advantage over another is beyond imagination. You would think the oil industry, which faces constant drilling opposition, would want to enhance its image and its dedication to safety by being totally open.

That not being the case, the state should be allowed to know exactly what is happening at all times. It is an impossible task, though, because there is no regulatory rules for fracking in Florida.

Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, has filed two bills, which allow for the disclosure of fracking chemicals. Good for him. We hope his fellow representatives will join in supporting this important correction.

The problem here is not that the chemicals could or could not be dangerous. The problem, as it is so often with governments, local, state and national, is secrecy.

We simply can’t understand how a regulatory agency is being blocked from doing its job. Just as we can’t understand how the public is being served by being kept in the dark by something that has the potential to seriously affect our lives.

Secrecy is the devil.