Fracking Problem
Hydraulic fracturing has been considered safe since a 2004 study by the EPA found that it posed no risk to drinking water. After that study, Congress even exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Today fracturing is used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States. A review of the study shows that the EPA made the conclusion without any knowledge of the chemicals (because the precise nature and concentrations of the chemicals used by industry are considered trade secrets) involved in the process.
In June 2009, two companion Senate and House bills, called the FRAC ACT (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, amending the Safe Drinking Water Act) were introduced to repeal the oil and gas industry’s exemption from the U.S.’s safe drinking water law. The legislation would require them to disclose the chemicals they use in their hydraulic fracturing processes. Oil and gas companies such as ExxonMobil and XTO Energy have said as recently as January ’10 that they don’t object to revealing what chemicals are used in hydraulic fracturing but they do object to the EPA being in charge of regulating the process, echoing the industry’s concern that the EPA will either ban the practice or make it too expensive to drill.
Last week, the EPA (once again) launched a $1.9-million research study into the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing on water quality and public health. Concerns over the investigation have already driven Chesapeake Energy to back away from drilling for natural gas within the New York City watershed, a small area within the Marcellus Shale natural gas reserve. Industry research estimates that complying with federal oversight would add approximately $100,000 to the cost of each new natural gas well in the United States which would make it too costly to produce natural gas, thereby negatively impacting companies like XOM, CHK and KMP in the long-run.