In a petition filed on behalf of 114 state and national groups, the environmental law firm EarthJustice is urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to require natural gas drilling companies to disclose the chemicals they use.
As Colorado oil and gas officials continue to resist attempts by some members of the state’s congressional delegation to pass federal law compelling the disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, Texas, of all places, could soon establish a national model for fracking transparency.
Colorado’s top oil and gas regulator and the head of one of the state’s leading industry lobbying groups both say federal legislation compelling disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing would not have prevented the state’s worst cases of groundwater contamination.
In a sit-down interview with the Colorado Independent in Denver this week, U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette said the natural gas industry should support full public disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing as a “protection” from potential litigation.
Colorado conservation groups are rallying the troops in Golden today for one of only three forums nationwide that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is conducting on the controversial natural gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” BLM director Bob Abbey is weighing whether to require public disclosure of chemicals used in fracking operations on federal lands. Today’s BLM meeting will be held from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Denver Marriott West in Golden.
Between 2005 and 2009, the nation’s 14 leading natural gas drilling service companies used hydraulic fracturing fluids containing 29 different chemicals regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) as potential human carcinogens, according to a new congressional report released Saturday. The investigation was spearheaded by a group of House Democrats that includes Colorado’s Diana DeGette.
Benjamin Grumbles, the EPA administrator in charge of water quality issues during the Bush administration, now says that a preliminary study done by the EPA should not have been used to deregulate the practice of hydrofracking.
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