Congress Takes a Closer Look at Gas Companies’ “Fracking”
Last week, after 8,000 gallons of potentially carcinogenic chemicals spilled into the ground and water at a natural gas drilling site in Pennsylvania, the state’s environmental protection agency suspended operations for the drilling company, Cabot Oil & Gas.
The company says the spills happened when a hose ruptured during a process called hydraulic fracturing, a method used to break apart tight rock formations. The process involves forcing millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals down a well under immense pressure, creating high flow rates of gas and greater returns for the drilling company. Halliburton pioneered the method, which is known to insiders as “fracking.”
Now Congress is considering legislation to regulate the practice; many community and national groups have signed a letter of support for the FRAC Act (Fracking Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals), which would call for the process to be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act and therefore subject to the EPA's permitting process. Generally, the EPA regulates anything that might affect underground drinking water supplies, but the industry managed to get an exemption for fracking.
That exemption means that drilling companies don’t have to reveal what chemicals they use, making it difficult for anyone to prove a connection between their activities and polluted water supplies. So while some people living near gas wells say they have become sick, pets and livestock have died, their water smells and has even become flammable in some cases, the haven't been able to prove gas drilling is to blame.
But the problem is starting to get more attention, even in places where oil and gas development are crucial to local economies – places like Pavillion, Wyoming. Following numerous complaints, recently the EPA tested 29 wells in the area, where natural gas drilling is commonplace, and found that 11 were contaminated. The agency did not specify a cause but acknowledged that gas drilling could be the culprit. What's happening to the water supply there, and impending federal legislation, may have far-reaching consequences.
-- Suzanne Bopp
