DeGette Calls for Rigorous Hydraulic Fracturing Study by EPA

Press Release

Today, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) urged Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to conduct a more thorough undertaking than the EPA's initial draft assessment of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.

"The American people deserve to know how their drinking water could be affected by hydraulic fracturing," said Rep. DeGette. "But instead of an answer to that question, they are being handed a report that lacks scientific rigor. Without access to well site data and prospective studies of hydraulic fracturing operations this assessment cannot draw conclusions of any significant value."

"The limitations of this study are not due to a failure of the EPA to perform thorough scientific research, but rather they are due to constraints in their ability to access necessary data. I have advocated for years to increase disclosure requirements of all hydraulic fracturing fluid data and this study's limitations all but prove the necessity of these requirements. This study's limitations demonstrate clearly that the safety of our drinking water cannot simply rely on industry's willingness to share either information on the harmful chemicals they use or provide access to the sites they are used at. I urge the EPA investigators to continue their investigation of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water. They can rest assured knowing my work to provide them the tools to fully conduct their investigation is far from over."

The EPA's Draft Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources was commissioned in 2009 by Rep. DeGette and former Rep. Maurice Hinchey. It was commissioned in order to provide a substantive, scientific assessment of hydraulic fracturing to better inform policy decisions.

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