Exxon CEO Comes Out Against Fracking Project Because It Will Affect His Property Values

thinkprogress.org...

As ExxonMobil’s CEO, it’s Rex Tillerson’s job to promote the hydraulic fracturing enabling the recent oil and gas boom, and fight regulatory oversight. The oil company is the biggest natural gas producer in the U.S., relying on the controversial drilling technology to extract it.
The exception is when Tillerson’s $5 million property value might be harmed. Tillerson has joined a lawsuit that cites fracking’s consequences in order to block the construction of a 160-foot water tower next to his and his wife’s Texas home.

Fracking is safe but not in my back yard.....hypocrite.

When he is acting as Exxon CEO, not a homeowner, Tillerson has lashed out at fracking critics and proponents of regulation. “This type of dysfunctional regulation is holding back the American economic recovery, growth, and global competitiveness,” he said in 2012. Natural gas production “is an old technology just being applied, integrated with some new technologies,” he said in another interview. “So the risks are very manageable.”

Apparently there is the wealthy elite who get special treatment but the rest of us are just chattel on their way to bigger profits.
What arrogance!

a reply to: olaru12

-headshake-

If only he treated the rezt of his properties like his home...bit i'd love to see tillerson sit back under the shade of the water tower trinking ice cold methane infused lemonade

This needs much better coverage.

I'm actually far from surprised. Just amazed he allowed there to be a paper trail. Now we can all see.

Do as I say, not as I do.

S + F. Another example of the big people not wanting any reminders of the little people around them.

originally posted by: Iamthatbish
This needs much better coverage.

I'm actually far from surprised. Just amazed he allowed there to be a paper trail. Now we can all see.

They don't even care if they are called out on their hypocrisy because they know the corporate oligarchy is in complete control and they basically own us.

It's a brave new world...and it's ugly!!

a reply to: olaru12

Exactly, just how they can openly flaunt their power and oppression without consequence because the majority would rather....wait, World Cup's on! BRB

originally posted by: TheToastmanCometh
a reply to: olaru12

-headshake-

\ i'd love to see tillerson sit back under the shade of the water tower trinking ice cold methane infused lemonade

I will gladly, personally, infuse the methane.
Us poor folk eat a lot of legumes.

I know i shouldn't, but here it goes anyways.


Tillerson does not care about fracking in the vicinity of his property. He never complained about fracking operations since he moved to Bartonville in 2001.

Mr. Tillerson, 61 years old, moved to Bartonville in 2001 and became CEO in 2006. Since 2007, companies have fracked at least nine shale wells within a mile of the Tillerson home, according to Texas regulatory and real-estate records.(...)

The dispute over the 160-foot water tower goes beyond possible nuisances related to fracking. Among the issues raised: whether a water utility has to obey local zoning ordinances and what are the rights of residents who relied on such laws in making multi-million-dollar property investments. The latter point was the focus of Mr. Tillerson's comments at the November council meeting.

online.wsj.com...

Just another rich guy concerned about his property value.

the lawsuit

Like 99.99999% of all rich people, he is a proud member of NIMBY(not in my back yard). I wonder if he thinks about how normal people feel when this is done to them? No. He doesn't. Only humans think that way.

originally posted by: Millers



Just another rich guy concerned about his property value.

I wonder if Mr. Tillerson is concerned about my property values? And what fracking does to my ground water?
In the quest for more and more obscene profits the little guy is completely forgotten as collateral damage.

www.scientificamerican.com...

BUT BUT BUT Mr. Tillerson! "This type of dysfunctional regulation is holding back the American economic recovery, growth, and global competitiveness!"

It doesn't matter that he is against the water tower and not the fracking operation. When concerned residents push authorities to regulate fracking in their neck of the woods over health concerns, it's "dysfunctional regulation" that is stifling economic progress. When he and the concerned upper crust folks are concerned about their property value dropping because hauling water from the water tower might be noisy, it's.. erm.. "functional regulation" he's after?

What astonishes me is that still the Conservative right wing think Obama is leading us into socialism.

The neocon Obama has given carte blanche to the Corporations to profit on the backs of the taxpayers.
Look up corporate subsudies.....and we pay for it....



www.nakedcapitalism.com...

That's not socialism, it's crony capitalism. Huge difference.

As a businessman myself I like capitalism but not at the expense of my neighbors. They would sue me if I even tried to diminish their property values.

One set of laws for the rich and one set for the rest of us....

a reply to: olaru12


I understand this would be a really neat story if Tillerson was really concerned about the fracking, groundwater contermination etc.

There are several wells fracked in the vicinity of Tillerson's home. The fracked wells had gone in without any suit from Tillerson. His problem is, he had been promised no structures would be built that rise above the tree line. The water tower does.

Since 2007, companies have fracked at least nine shale wells within a mile of the Tillerson home, according to Texas regulatory and real-estate records.

The last to do so was XTO Energy Inc., in August 2009, according to Texas regulators. Mr. Tillerson had just begun talks for Exxon to acquire XTO. Four months later, Exxon swallowed its smaller rival for $25 billion, becoming America's biggest gas producer.

He could have literally stopped any fracking near his property single-handedly without any lawsuit whatsoever. So again, the fracking itself near his home is not his problem.

www.crosstimbersgazette.com...

originally posted by: Millers





He could have literally stopped any fracking near his property single highhandedly without any lawsuit whatsoever. So again, the fracking itself near his home is not his problem.

www.crosstimbersgazette.com...

So my question is....

Does he care about what fracking is doing to his neighbors property? Or anyones property?

Perhaps a little research eh?

www.foodandwaterwatch.org...

a reply to: Millers

I understand this would be a really neat story if Tillerson was really concerned about the fracking, groundwater contermination etc.

There are several wells fracked in the vicinity of Tillerson's home. The fracked wells had gone in without any suit from Tillerson. His problem is, he had been promised no structures would be built that rise above the tree line. The water tower does.

I'm not disagreeing with what he's concerned about. Tillerson doesn't want an unsightly water tower and potentially noisy water transportation operation anywhere near his property, possibly lowering its value.

I would bet a week's salary that Tillerson has a nice water filtration system to filter water coming from a municipal water supply. I would not expect that he would be as concerned about the effects of fracking on the water coming out of his faucets as your average rural family with their own well would be.

It's a common scenario that when the pleebs want environmental regulation to protect them from risks posed by industrial operation, they're painted as ignorant trolls whose irrational fear is driving economy-killing regulation and yet, this disdain for economy-killing regulation is conspicuously absent when it's no longer convenient.

a reply to: olaru12

Does he care about what fracking is doing to his neighbors property? Or anyones property?

No, apparently he doesn't. But this is what the article wrongly claims. He still thinks fracking is awesome, even in his own backyard.

The sad irony about the story is, that once again the facts are misconstrued to push a certain narrative. You fell for it, that wouldn't have happened with a little bit of background search what the lawsuit is really about.

Doesn't it bother you being misled, regardless of who's doing it and for what purpose?

originally posted by: Millers
a reply to: olaru12

Does he care about what fracking is doing to his neighbors property? Or anyones property?

No, apparently he doesn't. But this is what the article wrongly claims. He still thinks fracking is awesome, even in his own backyard.

How do you know he thinks fracking is awesome? Of course he is going to claim it's ok as he is a corporate shill and will say anything to keep the profits rolling in...even if he knows deep down it's damaging the environment and peoples lives.

I'm beginning to wonder about your agenda....

a reply to: theantediluvian


I cannot defend Tillerson's position under any circumstances, hypocrite or not. My concern is rather, if the truth is the most powerful weapon to stop injustice of any kind then it should be the highest priority of everyone to protect it.

After you have convinced people that you believe your cause to be more important than telling the truth, you've lost the power to convince them of anything else.

Headline should read:

Exxon CEO Comes Out Against 160ft Water Tower Because It Will Affect His Property Values

a reply to: Millers

The third (and longest) paragraph of the TP source in the OP:

The Wall Street Journal reports the tower would supply water to a nearby fracking site, and the plaintiffs argue the project would cause too much noise and traffic from hauling the water from the tower to the drilling site. The water tower, owned by Cross Timbers Water Supply Corporation, “will sell water to oil and gas explorers for fracing [sic] shale formations leading to traffic with heavy trucks on FM 407, creating a noise nuisance and traffic hazards,” the suit says.

Paragraphs five and six explicitly contrast the views of Exxon Mobil CEO Tillerson against those of Tillerson the concerned home owner when it comes to regulations. The fact that the water tower and the operation that owns it are serving the fracking industry directly are icing on the cake.

What I really can't believe is that nobody noticed who else is included in the illustrious list of plaintiffs.

Right at the top: Richard K. and Susan Armey. That would be Dick Armey (Richard Keith Armey), former GOP House Majority leader and current political adviser/lobbyist. Most notably in recent years, Dick was a co-chairman of Tea Party lobbying group, FreedomWorks, from 2003 until his resignation in 2012 after receiving an $8 million payment, following a falling out that was reportedly over FreedomWorks decision to drop support for Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin.

Fun fact: Dick Armey is supposedly known for handing out copies of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals to Tea Party leaders!

I suppose when you're rich, it's a really really small world after all!