The Amish Are Getting Fracked
June 8, 2013 1:38 PM   Subscribe

On the relationship between energy companies and the Amish
[E]xtraction companies are buying up the rights to drill on private property with unprecedented speed. At stake are geysers of money. And in the thousands of cases in which the landowner is of the Amish faith, their business partner would never dream of taking them to court should things go awry. This, obviously, has enticed some companies to take advantage of Amish farmers—who are finally figuring out how to fight back.
posted by frimble (9 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sometimes I wonder if hypocrisy in the service of exploiting the vulnerable is a spectator sport now. I originally typed out that this is unbelievable but really, I'm not surprised at all if I'm being honest with myself.

I'm just left with a dull feeling of despair, depression, and shattered faith in the intrinsic goodness of people worming in my stomach like a cancer.

In other news, I made it all the way to the 8th day of this month before swearing off news for the rest of June. That may be a record.

See you guys in July!
posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 2:52 PM on June 8, 2013 [4 favorites]


You know why this pisses me off even more? If we would LIVE LIKE THE AMISH we wouldn't "need" to fuck over whole other communities in our greedy corrupt presumptions that our cities build on excesses consumption constitute "needs."

We don't have to live this way! We could STOP this madness if we all put our foots down and decided to create smart communities that use very little to no fossil fuel to run.

Enough with the "we can't"-- clearly WE CAN. We're just not. All of us who buy these tainted goods are part of this. Of course, as individuals we have limited power to stand up to the practices of our society but together- what could we accomplish if we stopped all siding with the abusive forces in our society (and our own heads) that tell us we can't stand up against this and it's impossible?
posted by xarnop at 4:24 PM on June 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


Mod note: This is not the place for an anti-religion rant. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 5:31 PM on June 8, 2013


I read this at Slashdot earler and I discovered that the Amish aren't quite what I realised, and they seem okay with electrickery.

Eventually, I suppose, they'll use some religious rules lawyering to sort this out somehow.

I'm curious though, where in the US $10 an acre for the mineral rights would be even in the ballpark. My knowledge is limited, and I know shale rights have inflated the values, but it doesn't seem right. Seems to me if the landmen come knocking you might suspect something was up = but I have never lived Amish or in the US, so what do I know? US access rights are very different to what we have here, but it does seem like the wider issues of unconventional gas drilling are the same.
posted by Mezentian at 6:31 PM on June 8, 2013


If we would LIVE LIKE THE AMISH then only the women would be getting fucked over.

What's happening to their communities is probably not right, but that doesn't make their way of life absolutely better than the mainstream either.
posted by sparklemotion at 6:35 PM on June 8, 2013 [5 favorites]


I wonder why Amish people haven't decided that allowing large oil companies to drill for oil isn't good for maintaining their communities.

I'm trying to figure out how I'd word that. All I've got is something about a healthy physical environment being conducive to a good social environment, but I don't think I've read about Amish people using that particular argument.

If I were an Amish person trying to sort out a rule that said that these oil well contracts aren't good for my community, what would it sound like?
posted by aniola at 6:42 PM on June 8, 2013


Yeah I don't agree with any sexism or oppressive practices, (maybe you missed my inappropriate rant against oppressive religious practices before it was deleted) but my point is communities that try to be self sufficient to a large degree are getting damaged by people who consume way more resources.
posted by xarnop at 6:49 PM on June 8, 2013


The Amish interpretation of the Christian bible prohibits the use of the courts: Except in rare circumstances, the Amish do not sue.

I think of a bunch of fracking execs figuring out this a a big board meeting and their heads are about to explode but unfortunately they don't.
posted by angrycat at 8:07 AM on June 9, 2013


the Amish do not sue
Is there some sort of legal precedence for filing a legal complaint on behalf of someone who won't, or can't? The only comparison I can think of would be laws designed to protect individuals who are not of the mental caliber as a "average person".

(TBH, I think it's a horrible comparison, and it even brings up the legal differences between "can't" and "won't", but outside of the cases outlining the rights of Native Americans or possibly immigrants I can't see any way that the Oil Co's lose this one. And that makes me sad.)

(Re: Native Americans and immigrants... historical indicators that the more things change, the more they stay the same.)
posted by Blue_Villain at 10:36 AM on June 10, 2013


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