The Hallowich case in southwestern Pennsylvania keeps producing headlines for our fractivist friends but they always turn out to be little more than smoke and mirrors when one digs into the facts and circumstances.

Google “Hallowich Children” and you’ll get 2,140 responses mostly consisting of wildly misleading headlines such as “Big Oil Places A Gag Order On 2 Children” but few, if any, of the articles provide access to the actual transcript from which come the quotes and references made in the articles. There is a good reason. The transcript doesn’t shine a particularly good light on the plaintiffs and admits, right there on page 2, this little tidbit of information ignored by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and others (emphasis added):

The only thing that’s not in it was the actual settlement agreement, the matters we wanted to be sealed and not exposed to the docket at any time until it was sealed.

This statement was offered by the plaintiff’s legal counsel, Attorney Peter Villari, on behalf of Chris and Stephanie Hallowich who immediately thereafter requested the Court sign off on the petition as it had been presented to the court (see page 3). So, why have fractivists and sympathetic media been busy telling everyone Range Resources and others imposed a “gag order” on the Hallowich children? Sadly, we all know the answer to that one – it makes for a better story and fits the desired template.

http://naturalgasnow.org/secrecy-demands-came-from-hallowich-family/