One Big Fracking Problem for Oil and Gas Industry

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Legislation introduced this week that targets hydraulic fracturing — a technique used to access vast new fields for drilling – is pitting the oil and gas industry against environmentalists in a debate over public health, federal versus state regulation and the protection of industry trade secrets.

Here’s what the legislation also will do: deliver massive lobbying firepower to Capitol Hill. In the lead up to the long-anticipated bill, lobbying against the measure was already well underway. In the first quarter of 2009, the American Petroleum Institute spent $1.8 million lobbying for a variety of issues including hydraulic fracturing.

The concern is that underground water could be contaminated during hydraulic fracturing or fracking. In the process, drillers pump millions of gallons of water mixed with chemicals and sand under high pressure into horizontal wells. The pressure cracks shale deposits and releases the gas. Most of the mixture is removed, although some remains. The mix is then put into open pits for evaporation and eventually trucked to a disposal site. The exact chemical mixture is considered a trade secret, although many including benzene are considered highly toxic.

It is a considerably valuable process for drillers because it allows them to reach more gas and oil than a conventional well. Environmentalists and public health officials believe it should be regulated because of concerns that water supplies could be threatened by the chemicals left underground or in the open pits. Water contamination has been documented near drilling sites, but a definitive link between drilling and contamination has never been made. Environmental Protection Agency officials investigated and ruled regulation was unnecessary. [Clarified thanks to reader input]. However, EPA scientists have said they can’t adequately investigate cases of pollution or determine whether fracturing might be to blame because it is exempt under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

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