-----Original Message-----
From: lee hersh <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]; PeacefulGatherings
<[email protected]>
Sent: Fri, Oct 30, 2009 12:26 pm
Subject: [flprogressives] Congress Gives Final Approval to Hinchey
Provision Urging EPA to Conduct New Study on Risks Hydraulic
Fracturing Poses to Drinking Water Supplies
hallelujah!!!!
Congress Gives Final Approval to Hinchey Provision Urging EPA to
Conduct New Study on Risks Hydraulic Fracturing Poses to Drinking Water
Supplies
10/30/09
Washington, DC -- The U.S. House of Representatives today approved a
provision authored by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) that formally
urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a new
study on the risks that hydraulic fracturing poses to drinking water
supplies. The Senate is due to pass the identical bill in the coming
days and President Obama is expected to sign the measure into law soon
after that. Earlier this week, members of the Interior Appropriations
Conference Committee, including Hinchey, signed off on the Interior and
Environment Appropriations bill and report for fiscal year 2010, which
contains the study provision.
"While natural gas certainly has an important role in our national
energy policy, it's imperative that we take every step possible to
ensure that our drinking water supplies are not contaminated or
adversely impacted in any way," Hinchey said. "This legislation puts
Congress on record in support of a new, comprehensive study that will
examine the impact that hydraulic fracking really has on our water
supplies. The study results will put us in a position to take any
further steps that are necessary to protect our drinking water supplies
from the chemical concoctions being pumped into the ground by energy
companies."
In May, the congressman asked EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at a House
Interior Appropriations Subcommittee hearing about the need for such a
study. Jackson told Hinchey that she believed her agency should review
the risk that fracturing poses to drinking water in light of various
cases across the country that raise questions about the safety of the
natural gas drilling practice. Hinchey's measure would formalize that
congressional request for an EPA study on the risks that toxic
chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing pose to drinking water supplies
in New York and across the nation. The EPA did conduct a study on the
matter in 2004 under the Bush administration, but that study is widely
considered to be flawed for a variety of reasons, including the way
data was selectively collected from sources that had a vested interest
in the oil and gas industry while other relevant information was
ignored.
The language that Hinchey had inserted into the report reads, "The
conferees urge the EPA to carry out a study on the relationship between
hydraulic fracturing and drinking water, using a credible approach that
relies on the best available science, as well as independent sources of
information. The conferees expect the study to be conducted through a
transparent, peer-reviewed process that will ensure the validity and
accuracy of the data. EPA shall consult with other federal agencies as
well as appropriate state and interstate regulatory agencies in
carrying out the study, and it should be prepared in accordance with
EPA quality assurance principles."
In the now infamous 2005 Energy Policy Act, which Hinchey strongly
opposed and voted against, the then Republican-controlled Congress
exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA),
which was designed to protect people's water supply from contamination
from toxic materials. This loophole, which some have called the
Halliburton (Cheney) Loophole, created an extremely dangerous set of
circumstances.
In June, Hinchey, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), and several of
his colleagues introduced the FRAC ACT -- Fracturing Responsibility and
Awareness of Chemicals Act, which would close the loophole that
exempted hydraulic fracturing from the SDWA and require the oil and gas
industry to disclose the chemicals they use in their hydraulic
fracturing processes. Currently, the oil and gas industry is the only
industry granted an exemption from complying with the SDWA.
"It is critical that our communities are assured that the process of
hydraulic fracturing is safe and will not contaminate drinking water
supplies," said DeGette (D-CO), Vice Chair of the Committee on Energy
and Commerce. "I will continue to work with EPA to encourage a robust
study of hydraulic fracturing and its potential impact on drinking
water."
Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking,” is used in almost all
natural gas wells. It is a process whereby fluids are injected at high
pressure into underground rock formations to blast them open and
increase the flow of fossil fuels. This injection of unknown and
potentially toxic chemicals often occurs near drinking water sources.
Troubling incidents have occurred around the country where people
became ill after fracking operations began in their communities. Some
chemicals that are known to have been used in fracking include diesel
fuel, benzene, industrial solvents, and other carcinogens and endocrine
disrupters.
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