Some of the biggest supporters of fracking don't want it in their backyards.
By
Rex
Tillerson is mad. Fracking mad.
The
61-year old farmer from Bartonville, Texas is another victim of the fracking
boom that has invaded people’s homes and lives nationwide, from upstate New
York to Southern California.
Millions of Americans have experienced numerous
side effects from this massively destructive drilling process, including
polluted air, contaminated water, depleted aquifers, multiple health problems,
and even an inexplicable epidemic of earthquakes.
The
frackers hadn’t counted on Rex getting worked up, speaking out, and suing the
bastards. For Rex is no environmentalist. He isn’t objecting to the poisoning
of people’s water. Nor does he object at all to fracking when it’s not so close
to his own home.
Rather,
Tillerson’s hopping mad because the 15-story tower stands above
the tree line on his 83-acre, $5-million horse farm. It’s spoiling his view,
threatening his property’s value, and causing lots of traffic.
Tillerson,
you see, isn’t some local dirt farmer. He says he and his wife moved here to
have a weekend getaway so they can enjoy the rural lifestyle.
He’s not
a farmer at all — unless you count “farming the government” and harvesting billions
of dollars in special tax breaks and subsidies. Rex (whose name means “king” in
Latin), is the $40-million-a-year CEO of ExxonMobil. Now, guess which oil giant
is the biggest fracker in the USA. That’s right. ExxonMobil.
So what
we have here is a case of poetic justice. The cylindrical water tower that
comes with the fracking territory is symbolically extending the middle-finger
salute to Exxon’s CEO every time he visits his horsey farm.
What
could be more fitting than a guy who has gained a personal fortune from the
ugliness of fracking having some of that ugliness thrown right in his face?
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator,
writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the populist newsletter, The
Hightower Lowdown. OtherWords.org