Oil Tycoon Tries to Fire University Scientists Over Fracking Study

Billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm, owner of Continental Resources, has spent millions of dollars on campaigns that deny the environmental dangers of fracking while remaining silent when earthquake after earthquake coincidentally occurs near his fracking sites.  Bad publicity aside, if his company's drilling actions are found to be responsible for the increased seismic activity near his sites, Mr. Hamm could be forced to pay restitution to those whose homes and businesses were damaged.

After the University of Oklahoma's Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy published a report saying that evidence pointed to fracking being responsible for the sharp increase in the number and severity of earthquakes in Oklahoma, Mr. Hamm asked for a meeting with the Dean of the College, Larry Grillot.  Mr. Grillot told Bloomberg News that Mr. Hamm made it very clear that he wanted the scientists responsible for the report fired and put himself forward as an ideal candidate to join the committee to select a new director for the Geological Survey.

Mr. Hamm, who is a large donor to the University, also told Dean Grillot that he would be having a meeting with Governor Mary Fallin (R) to discuss moving the Oklahoma Geological Survey from under the auspices of the University of Oklahoma and Mewbourne College.

After the College's Geological Survey released a second in-depth report in which they concluded it is "very likely" that waste water wells used in fracking are behind the "majority" of the state's earthquakes, historically oil-friendly Governor Fallin said their reports had convinced her that fracking activity is responsible for the spike in earthquakes in Oklahoma and she would be taking action on the issue.

what eye thynk:  Governor Fallin's announcement gives me the feeling that Mr. Hamm's meeting with her didn't go too well.  His attempt to rid the University of Oklahoma of its earth scientists and to put himself in a position to choose their replacements also failed when Dean Grillot refused to yield to Mr. Hamm's threat to have the Geological Survey department moved elsewhere.

Harold Hamm's threats masquerading as "meetings" are typical of what is becoming an all too common Republican ploy.  When faced with facts they don't like, they attempt to use money and influence to silence the voice of the fact finder.

As Jameson Parker of AddictingInfo.org reminded us earlier this week:

• Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) forbid scientists working in his administration to utter the words "climate change."
• Wyoming Governor Matt Mead (R) signed a new law that makes it illegal to collect data, take a sample, photograph or preserve information of pollution on public, private or federal land and submit it to any agency of the state or federal government, (Reporting an oil spill there ought to be fun.)
• In Washington, congressional Republicans slashed NASA's earth sciences budget in order to slow the study of global warming.

It's as if the entire Republican Party has been taken over by a race of humanoid-shaped ostriches whose sole diet is oil-tainted money and whose exclusive by-product is arrogance.  (Did the Koch brothers really think the Pope would bow to their minions?) 

One day, the grandchildren of today's GOP will look back and wonder how their ancestors could have been so stupid and so greedy.  I just hope they are looking back from a world that still has breathable air and where trees still grow toward a blue sky.

"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes."  

(Jawahaqrial Nehru, First Prime Minister of India)