A controversial practice to stimulate gas production from the Marcellus Shale is getting a closer look by federal regulators amid concerns over its impact on health and safety.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday it's beginning the first phases of a multi-year study that will assess the safety of hydraulic fracturing, a process that injects chemical solutions into the ground to fracture shale and release natural gas.
Based on language in the Appropriations Act, the EPA is reallocating $1.9 million for the comprehensive, peer-reviewed study for 2010 and requesting funding in the president's budget proposal for 2011. The study comes from a provision authored by U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley. The action stems from debate over the merits of a 2004 federal study under the Bush administration showing hydraulic fracturing -- fracking for short -- poses no threat to water supplies or public health.
According to Hinchey, that 2004 study collected data from sources with a vested interest in the oil and gas industry and ignored other relevant information. The study, he said, "was marred by biased data influenced by senior officials in the previous administration."
Dr. Paul T. Anastas, assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Research and Development, said the new study will involve "a transparent, peer-reviewed process, with significant stakeholder input ... to answer questions about the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing on human health and the environment."
It took shape in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, on which Hinchey sits.
Hinchey has also introduced a bill, know as the Frack Act, which would repeal an industry exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption frees fracking from federal oversight that applies when chemicals are put in the ground, and allows companies to withhold information about the fracking compounds from the public.
The bills are emblematic of a conflict surrounding an industry poised to ramp up in Broome County, which sits over a prime part of the Marcellus Shale, a world-class gas formation. Industry proponents say the Frack Act will stifle development.
