The Amish Are Getting Fracked

An anonymous reader writes "Old school meets business school. From the New Republic: 'The Amish interpretation of the Christian bible prohibits the use of the courts: Except in rare circumstances, the Amish do not sue. This has created a unique problem in the region. Home to the largest Amish community in the world, Eastern Ohio sits squarely on top of the Utica and Marcellus Shale formations, which contain billions in oil and gas recoverable through advances in hydraulic fracturing technology, or fracking ... When it comes to the oil and gas industry, this means that any agreement an Amish farmer makes with a company is, for the farmer, practically unenforceable. A rare case in which the plaintiffs were Amish suggests that Ohio's oil and gas companies know this and have been willing to take advantage.'"

Comments

Religion and ethics vs. money

[Anonymous Coward]

I know who I'd bet on every time.

Re:Religion and ethics vs. money

[Errol backfiring]

But usually in combination with money. Heck, money is its own religion nowadays. Most of those winning religious people believe more in the "invisible hand" than in the ten commandments.

But, Corporations are People!

[cphilo]

Except they have no ethics or morality. Or shame.

Re:But, Corporations are People!

[Archangel Michael]

Who taps every Verizon Wireless phone.

Who targets the enemies of the administration via IRS

Who use tax payer money to fund junkets to Anaheim (Disneyland) (IRS)

Who claim they need to review rules, regulations and procedures (they violated) in the tapping of Reporter's phones.

The government and corporations are the same. They are people, without conscience.

"Is it Legal"

"I will make it legal"

Re:But, Corporations are People!

[P-niiice]

I can play this game. Who forces farmers to rebuy GMO seed every year? Who overpays CEO's and upper management to the tune of up to 399 times the lowest wage? Who sidesteps billions in taxes that could build american infrastructure or help millions of Americans improve their lives? Who uses American tax breaks and then refuses to hire american despite huge profits? Who vastly overcharges for routine medical supplies like aspirin in hopes that it won't be caught on a bill? "Is it ethical?" "My friends in congress and media will make it ethical."

Re:But, Corporations are People!

[ultranova]

Corporations cant force anything.

Of course they can, and do. Where the government is strong, the corporations wield power through it. Where it is weak, they hire their own private armies a la Pinkerton, because who'll stop them?

Re:But, Corporations are People!

[stenvar]

You're absolutely right that neither corporations nor government have ethics. The difference is: with corporations, that's what's expected and it shouldn't matter because in a free market, you don't have to buy their crap. When the federal government is unethical, you have no way of escaping from that. And when they mandate monopolies (e.g., media) or purchases (e.g., health care), you can't use the market anymore to stay away from corporations whose products you don't want.

Re:But, Corporations are People!

[nobodyknowsimageek]

If you think that you can evade the bad behavior of Corporations simply by "not buying from them" then you are incredibly naive.

Wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

There are actually several different "sects" of Amish, all with differing interpretations. Saying that they don't make use of the courts is incorrect. Some don't, but for most the prohibition is in filing lawsuits for personal gain.

In any event, it's really not something anybody should be concerned with. The Amish have the right to take advantage of the courts, and the right to choose not to use them. If their belief system says don't use the courts, well that's too bad but it's a burden they've placed on themselves.

Re:Wrong

[tnk1]

Right. If the fracking did something like destroy their land so it couldn't be used for farming, they would likely be able to sue to get justice.

What they probably won't do is sue if the energy companies don't give them all the money they agreed to, but at the same time, it doesn't prevent the Amish from living their lives.

Although the Amish are not idiots, they have decided to live their lives without many modern conveniences. Presumably, they aren't going to be necessarily interested in extracting as much money as they can as there is no benefit to them in a lot of money except keeping score. Since mineral and resource rights are money that they would make without working for it themselves, it's a windfall that they may well not need or even want.

That's not to say that they will or want to give this stuff away, but at the same time, if the energy companies are not actively hurting them, lawsuits are just a contentious issue that they don't need. Of course, nothing prevents them from pointing out that the energy companies are cheating them to interested parties and having those people publicize it (as seems to have happened here). This may give outsiders the idea that the Amish are being cheated and taken advantage of, but I just see it as them placing their priorities in a place where most people would not in modern society.

Re:PROXY?

[thoriumbr]

The Amish are not thinking on the billions, they are thinking on their land. They rarely rely on money anyway, so the billions would not be that compelling to them. But frackle their soil and wreck their land, and they will be deeply concerned.

Re:lawsuit by proxy?

[h4rr4r]

Oh get over it. The entire Bible is a mass of conflicting rules and loopholes. People spout leviticus at gays while having tattoos and wearing mixed fabrics.

Re:Their own fault

[MickyTheIdiot]

In the U.S. corporations are our religion. The "Christianity" thing is a smokescreen. If it makes money and screws the other guy then in corporate-centric America it is right.

I'm ready for the -1 mod on this... but I will keep saying it. We've got major problems with our ethics in the U.S. and corporatism is being the true religion. The Joel Olsteen "God wants you to be successful" crap is by no means Christianity.

Re:lawsuit by proxy?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a wonderful piece done by NPR which explains this. A summary paraphrase is something like this. They only do something if it brings them closer to their god. Anything that could be a distraction from that is removed from their lives. So using a diesel generator that gives them more time and money to spend in their community and with God is a good thing for them, television that takes time from their family and their focus on god is a bad thing. I may not believe as they do, but exploitation of any people gets me kind of riled. As an atheist, no one deserves to be abused just for how they choose to live or believe, especially if it does not infringe upon others. The law needs to come down supremely hard on these people abusing the Amish.

Re:lawsuit by proxy?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

And generally speaking they are happy with their lot and comfortable in their lives

I can't help it, being a sceptic, but I wonder - how common is it for people living in strong, patriarchal, authoritarian societies to claim that they are happy when they actually aren't, relative to other societies?