"Should the Annoyed clause be taken out?"
Repeal "Restrictions on Hydraulic Fracturing"
Category: Repeal | Target: GA 417 "Restrictions on Hydraulic Fracturing" | Replacement: None. Target's largely redundant and poorly handles an extremely limited niche.
The World Assembly,
Adamant that strong environmental regulations serve a critical role in protecting the natural habitats of member nations and the health of their peoples,
Praising GA 441 "Convention on Freshwater Shortages" for protecting members' freshwater resources by prohibiting the dumping of hazardous waste into public drinking supplies and assisting members with the effective management of their freshwater resources and recovery from disasters impacting such,
Lauding GA 453 "Preventing Groundwater Contamination" for further protecting members' groundwater resources by mandating that land use be planned such "that agricultural, industrial, and transportation pollutants will not present any measurable threat to the utility and potability of aquifers,"
Recognizing that the above two resolutions render GA 417 "Restrictions on Hydraulic Fracturing" and its protection of people and their water resources against contamination by hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") largely redundant,
Concerned that the target resolution's definition of fracking:Troubled that the resolution's restrictions on fracking:
- only covers fracturing that uses "pressurized liquids," thereby allowing fracturing operations to sidestep all of the resolution's mandates by using other fracturing mediums such as carbon dioxide or natural gas to access fuel deposits, and
- limits itself and therefore the target's restrictions to only the "method of fossil-fuel extraction" itself, despite related issues such as improper well construction, pipe construction, and wastewater management having the potential to present equal or greater risks of contamination to the surrounding environment,
Disappointed that the resolution doesn't bother to explain what "close range" means, making even good-faith compliance unclear at best,
- simply outright ban fracking in certain situations rather than truly regulate the practice, meaning that fracking operations have no concrete standards to meet to ensure reliably safe fracking,
- ban fracking based on the threat, harm, and/or risk posed by the practice itself, despite pollution and related issues being largely caused by deficiencies in individual fracking operations, which the target does not even attempt to properly regulate, as stated above, and
- only apply to fracking operations that "are in or within close range of land inhabited by populations of sapient beings," meaning that:
- any harmful effects fracking operations may have on natural environments and wildlife not in close proximity to sapient populations are not covered by the resolution,
- any land not in close proximity to sapient populations but where such populations may reside in the future is not covered by the resolution, and
- resources that are used by or otherwise impact sapient communities without being close to them are not covered by the resolution, despite the fact that aquifers, for example, can stretch for long distances and be highly interconnected,
Distraught that clause 2b of the target:Annoyed that the target prevents nations from negotiating solutions to transboundary pollution resulting from fracking that would be the most beneficial to those nations themselves, and forces members bordering non-members to restrict their own operations while allowing those non-members to frack at will,
- only applies when water resources have already been harmed, potentially beyond repair, thus diminishing any positive impact the clause may have, and
- only applies to "water resources demonstrably neccessary [sic] to ensure the health of local communities," despite no water resource being truly necessary to this end by definition due to it always being technically possible to import clean water from elsewhere, thus rendering the clause practically useless,
Convinced that outright banning certain industrial operations where they may potentially cause harm rather than properly regulating them to ensure a high standard of safety across the board makes for poor policy, and
Believing that a largely redundant resolution that so utterly fails at adequately covering even a single narrow subject area should not remain in effect,
Hereby repeals GA 417 "Restrictions on Hydraulic Fracturing."
Co-author: Simone Republic.
