EPA Official: Sate Regulators Doing Fine On Hydrofracking
Dow Jones Newswires - 15 February 2010
By Ian Talley
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--State regulators are doing a good job
overseeing a key natural gas production technique called hydrofracking
and there’s no evidence the process causes water contamination, a
senior federal environment official said Monday.
Environmentalists and some lawmakers are pressing to give the
Environmental Protection Agency federal oversight of the process,
concerned that the drilling technique is contaminating water suppliers.
State regulators and the natural gas industry have been fighting
against federal regulation, saying it could prevent or delay
development of trillions of cubic feet of new resources.
The process, which injects water, sand and a small amount of chemicals
into natural gas reservoirs under high pressure, has opened new
deposits to development, dramatically expanding estimates for domestic
production.
"I have no information that states aren't doing a good job already,"
Steve Heare, director of EPA's Drinking Water Protection Division said
on the sidelines of a state regulators conference here. He also said
despite claims by environmental organizations, he hadn't seen any
documented cases that the hydro-fracking process was contaminating
water supplies.
In its 2011 budget, the EPA is seeking to spend $4 million to study the
environmental impacts of the process.
Bill Kappel, a U.S. Geological Survey official, said contamination of
water supplies is more likely to happen as companies process the waste
water from hydrofracking. In some instances, municipal water systems
that treat the water have reported higher levels of heavy metals and
radioactivity.
"Treatment of the [waste] water hasn't caught up with the
hydro-fracking technology," Kappel said.
But both re-injection of that waste water and water treatment at the
surface is already regulated by the federal government under the Safe
Drinking Water and Clean Water Acts.
Although legislation in the House and Senate to bring greater federal
oversight of the hydro-fracking process hasn't gained momentum, Heare
said even if such proposals are approved, it wouldn't likely have a
dramatic affect on regulation. States would still have the right under
the Safe Drinking Water Act to use their own regulatory standards.
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has pushed
to maintain state's primacy in oversight of oil and gas activities.
Contrary to some press reports, Heare also noted that the EPA wasn't
conducting any current investigations linking hydrofracking to water
contaminations.
Companies such as Range Resources Corp. (RRC), EOG Resources Inc.
(EOG), Devon Energy Corp. (DVN), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) say the process is multiplying their
reserves. For example, the Marcellus deposit that lies under
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and New York is estimated to hold more
than 500 trillion cubic feet, compared to total conventional
natural-gas resource estimates in the U.S. of around 378 trillion cubic
feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.