EPA Finds A Way To Regulate Fracking

[irishbobcat]

WASHINGTON – Lisa P. Jackson, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced Tuesday that new regulations are coming for hydraulic fracturing companies who use diesel fuel as part of the injection solution to fracture rock and recover natural gas. The EPA has regulated the injection of fluids underground, but current law exempts fracturing fluids from EPA regulations.

Jackson, essentially, has found a loophole where diesel fluids are not exempt. She stated that new rules are coming "very shortly" to hydraulic fracturing.

A recent congressional investigation concluded that EPA permits for 32 million gallons of diesel fuel have not been obtained for fracking between 2005 and 2009.

Historically, the EPA has regulated oil & gas companies involved in natural gas drilling, but that all changed when in 2005 the Bush administrations Energy Bill amended the Safe Drinking Water Act to make oil & gas companies exempt from The Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, CERCLA, and NEPA: this came to be known as the 'Halliburton Loophole.' This left states to maintain regulatory oversight on hydraulic fracturing.

In 2009 senators Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, introduced the Frac Act to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act allowing the EPA regulate hydraulic fracturing, and require companies to reveal the chemicals used during fracking. The 2010 election is credited in killing the efforts to make this bill into a law. The 111th and Congress (Jan. 3, 2011)  and the 112th Congress adjourned with no action or re-introduction to the bill or an equivalent. Read Bill

For more on the safety and environmental effect of hydraulic fracturing, see our investigation on Natural Gas Drilling »

Jackon's announcement came during the 2011 EIA Energy Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center.