Distributive Justice and Scarce Natural Resources

Distributive Justice and Scarce Natural Resources

Author

Institution

Introduction

Questions regarding the appropriate balance between trade secrets and individual health interests are extremely volatile. It is well understood that companies usually fail to disclose certain trade secrets especially on matters touching on the components that they incorporate in their products. This is especially where there is controversy regarding the effects of these components on individuals’ health. This is the case for energy corporations. If there was no proof as to the negative health effects of fracking, property interests would outweigh individuals’ health interests.

First, one would examine the costs of such disclosure. It goes without saying that such disclosure would result in loss of trust and customer base for the companies. This would essentially result in loss of employment for thousands or millions of people, which may be unnecessary especially considering that only a few people would be at the path of destruction in case the fracking would have any negative health effects.

In addition, disclosure would mean that the energy company loses its capacity to produce unique products especially considering that other companies would start duplicating their products.

However, nondisclosure may result in loss of trust in the company itself. This is especially considering that the public sees companies as being considerably secretive, in which case they trust reports from other outside sources (Elgin et al, 2012). This does not come as a surprise especially considering the case of wells that are services by Weatherford International Ltd, whose secrets averaged 0.1% per well, while Superior Well Services, Baker Hughes, and Halliburton had 32.5%, 9.1% and 9.3% secrets (Elgin et al, 2012). On the same note, nondisclosure means that the health effects would remain hidden and unexplored, in which case they would have no mitigation efforts, which would eventually result in numerous lawsuits.

References

Elgin, B., Haas, B & Kuntz (2012). Fracking Secrets by Thousands Keep U.S. Clueless on Wells. Bloomberg, retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-30/frack-secrets-by-thousands-keep-u-s-clueless-on-wells.html” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-30/frack-secrets-by-thousands-keep-u-s-clueless-on-wells.html