If there's anything we've learned in the last couple of years since the word "fracking" entered our lexicon, it's this: Natural gas drillers don't want you to know what they're up to. From the Oklahoma prairie to the forests of Pennsylvania, from the moment they get your name on a lease until the last tank of wastewater is dumped, these energy giants go to remarkable lengths to keep the public in the dark. In the heart of Marcellus Shale country in Pennsylvania, the drillers force property owners to sign non-disclosure agreements that's made it hard for residents to go public after they're learned that their well water's been polluted or that so much methane is seeping up from the fractured earth that they can light their faucet with a match. And recently it's gotten even worse: Pennsylvania actually enacted a law that muzzles doctors who treat patients who've been sickened by pollution from fracking. This gag-order rule means that doctors who learn information about potentially health-threatening chemicals that gas drillers are using in their community are strictly forbidden from sharing what they've learned with other doctors or with the general public. That's unbelievable. OK, actually it is believable when you realize ...
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