Coalition seeks EPA action on gas drilling chemical info, testing
http://republicanherald.com/news/coalition-seeks-epa-action-on-gas-drilling-chemical-info-testing-1.1184706
BY DAVID SINGLETON (STAFF WRITER dsingleton@timesshamrock.com)
Published: August 5, 2011
A coalition of groups from Pennsylvania and 22 other states asked federal regulators Thursday to require the natural gas industry to perform testing and disclose information on the safety of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and other facets of gas exploration and production.
The petition filed by the environmental law firm Earthjustice requests that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopt rules that would for the first time require manufacturers and processors to produce the data needed to assess the risks posed by the chemicals.
Deborah Goldberg, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the concern goes beyond the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to those involved in gas development “from start to finish.”
As natural gas exploration has moved forward at “breakneck speed,” there have been growing reports of contaminated drinking water, polluted air and human illness, she said in a conference call.
“The problem we are facing right now is we do not have the data that we need to evaluate the health and environmental risks that are presented by the chemicals that are used by the industry, either the individual substances or the mixtures of chemicals that are used,” Goldberg said.
The petition asks the EPA to draft rules that would require, among other things, the identification and toxicity testing of all chemicals used in gas production and exploration, and the disclosure of all existing health and safety studies related to the substances.
Goldberg said the petition is not aimed at the disclosure of the chemicals used at individual well sites, which would be a state regulatory function.
Her organization filed the petition on behalf more than 100 environmental, public health and good government groups, including 19 from Pennsylvania.
According to the petition, increased production could translate into the drilling of 60,000 wells in Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania in the next 20 years. The fracking process, in which water, sand and chemicals are injected underground at high pressure to fracture the rock and release the gas, can use more than 10,000 gallons of chemicals per well.
Roberta Winters, a representative of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania who participated in the conference call, said rather than the gas industry being required to prove its methods are safe, the public has been left to wonder whether their water is safe to drink.
“Today’s petition puts some of that responsibility back where it belongs,” she said.
Richard Denison, senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, said the ultimate goal is to encourage the industry to act responsibly.
“We think having information available for both the government and the public will provide a good incentive to the industry to ensure their practices are safe and that it is trying to use the safest chemicals in these processes,” he said.
The EPA has 90 days to respond to the petition.