Obama EPA declares no 'widespread' harm to drinking water from fracking, boosting industry

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/04/epa-declares-no-widespread-
harm-to-drinking-water-from-fracking-boosting/

Fracking supporters were boosted Thursday by a new Environmental
Protection Agency report finding the controversial oil-and-gas extraction
process has not caused "widespread" harm to drinking water.

The findings were contained in a draft assessment, as part of a report
requested by Congress.

The report said the agency "did not find evidence" that any process has
"led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the
United States."

The agency did say the controversial drilling technique could affect
drinking water if safeguards aren't maintained. It found specific
instances where poorly constructed drilling wells and improper wastewater
management affected drinking water resources.

But the EPA also reported the number of cases was small compared with the
large number of wells that use hydraulic fracturing, better known as
fracking.

For industry and congressional voices who have long argued the health
hazards associated with fracking are overblown, the report appeared to be
a boon.

"Today's study confirms what we already know. Hydraulic fracturing, when
done to industry standards, does not impact drinking water," Sen. Lisa
Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, said in a statement. "States have been effectively regulating
hydraulic fracturing for more than 40 years and this study is evidence of
that."

In New York state, the EPA report already was fueling calls to rescind the
state's fracking ban.

"I fully expect Governor Cuomo to reverse his previous decision to ban
fracking which was based upon controversial scientific studies and made to
appease far left environmentalists," Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., said in a
statement. "Hardworking New Yorkers deserve the job opportunities and
economic growth fracking has clearly produced in other states, including
neighboring Pennsylvania."

The Business Council of New York State also put out a statement Thursday
urging the ban's reversal. Other states, meanwhile, have gone in the
opposite direction from New York. Texas recently approved a bill barring
local ordinances against fracking.

Improved drilling techniques have led to a surge in fracking in recent
years that has fueled a nationwide boom in production of oil and natural
gas, as fracking wells sprout up from California to Pennsylvania. Fracking
involves pumping huge volumes of water, sand and chemicals underground to
split open rocks to allow oil and gas to flow.

Improved technology has allowed energy companies to gain access to vast
stores of oil and natural gas underneath states from coast to coast but
has raised widespread concerns that it might lead to groundwater
contamination and even earthquakes.

The EPA assessment tracked water used throughout the fracking process,
from acquiring the water to mixing chemicals at the well site and
injecting so-called "fracking fluids" into wells, to collection of
wastewater, wastewater treatment and disposal.

The report identified several vulnerabilities to drinking water resources,
including fracking's effect on drought-stricken areas; inadequately cased
or cemented wells resulting in below-ground migration of gases and
liquids; inadequately treated wastewater discharged into drinking water
resources; and spills of hydraulic fluids and wastewater.

Environmental groups seized on the report's identification of cases where
fracking-related activities polluted drinking water.Lauren Pagel, policy
director of the environmental group Earthworks, said, "Today EPA confirmed
what communities living with fracking have known for years: fracking
pollutes drinking water."

"Now the Obama administration, Congress and state governments must act on
that information to protect our drinking water and stop perpetuating the
oil and gas industry's myth that fracking is safe," she said.

But with the EPA finding no widespread impact, industry groups hailed the
EPA study as proof that fracking is safe.

"After more than five years and millions of dollars, the evidence gathered
by EPA confirms what the agency has already acknowledged and what the oil
and gas industry has known: hydraulic fracturing is being done safely
under the strong environmental stewardship of state regulators and
industry-best practices," said Erik Milito, upstream group director of the
American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's top lobbying group.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public
Works Committee, said the report marked "the latest in a series of failed
attempts" by the Obama administration to link fracking to systemic
drinking water contamination.

"The Obama administration is now zero for four," Inhofe said. "EPA, the
U.S. Geological Survey and others have said that hydraulic fracturing is
indeed safe."

EPA officials said the report was not intended to prove whether fracking
is safe, but instead was aimed at how state regulators, tribes, local
communities and industry can best protect drinking water and reduce the
risks of fracking.

"It's not a question of safe or unsafe," Tom Burke, deputy assistant
administrator of EPA's Office of Research and Development, said in a
conference call with reporters. The issue for the EPA is "how do we best
reduce vulnerabilities so we can best protect our water and water
resources?" Burke said.



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