Tag: FRAC Act

Hydraulic fracturing itself may not directly contaminate groundwater supplies, as the oil and gas industry has steadfastly maintained for years, but the wastewater associated with the controversial process can be very hazardous to forest life, at least according to a new study produced by a U.S. Forest Service researcher.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., a co-sponsor of the FRAC Act with Colorado Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette and Jared Polis, on Sunday called for a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe of the natural gas industry after a New York Times article brought up allegations of an “Enron-style Ponzi scheme.”

Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette, D-Denver, today sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., requesting a full hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the controversial topic of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

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.

A new scientific study conducted by researchers at Duke University for the first time shows drinking water wells closer to natural gas drilling activity contain higher levels of flammable methane gas that the federal government says could require “hazard mitigation” action.

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.

Even as U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, continued his crusade last week to step up federal oversight of the natural gas drilling industry, his fellow Western Slope congressman, Republican Scott Tipton of Cortez, proposed a new regulatory impact study (RIS) to tabulate the fiscal impacts of federal regulations on industry.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis on Thursday followed up his reintroduction this week of the FRAC Act -- which would tighten federal regulation of natural gas drilling’s impacts to water quality -- with the BREATHE Act, a bill that would remove two exemptions for gas drilling under the Clean Air Act.

U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette and Jared Polis, both Colorado Democrats, have once again introduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act (FRAC Act) to regain federal regulatory authority over the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Natural gas hydraulic fracturing took an alarming star turn in the national media this weekend, spurring lawmakers to call again on their colleagues to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, a bill first introduced by Colorado lawmakers Diana DeGette and Jared Polis in 2009. An Academy award-nominated documentary and a Sunday New York Times expose underlined the chemical and radioactive hazards "fracking" poses to drinking water.