Released on February 7, 2011 and sent to EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) the following day for review, EPA’s 140-page draft study plan on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water is now available. Critics immediately objected that the study plan, in adopting a full “life cycle” approach, sweeps too far beyond the narrow question Congress posed in mandating the study in EPA’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget authorization.
Congress directed EPA to find out if the “fracking” process, which forces pressurized fluid into hard-to-reach natural gas deposits in underground shale formations, contaminates drinking water supplies. Environmental groups, which want to see federal regulation of the process, urged a broad look at all aspects of fracking operations, while industry sought a more focused review. The study previously attracted controversy when EPA resorted to subpoenas last fall to compel disclosure of fracking companies’ chemical formulas, and also over the composition of the SAB, with both industry and environmental groups lobbing charges that nominees were biased. The stakes are high: natural gas shale deposits in Pennsylvania and other mid-Atlantic states have been compared to Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves, and extensive shale deposits are already being developed in Texas and explored in Michigan and other states.
According to EPA’s draft plan, the agency will divide its research into three parts:
• Three to five retrospective case studies, which will analyze reported fracking-related drinking water contamination and consider key factors associated with these incidents,
• Prospective case studies, involving sampling and characterization before, during, and after the fracking process begins at a particular location, to provide EPA with a better understanding of the process, water quality changes, and fate and transport of fracking chemicals, and
• Generalized scenario evaluations of situations likely to result in adverse impacts to drinking water.
Only the first of these objectives will be completed in time for a planned 2012 initial report, which will include a synthesis of EPA’s research to date, findings from the retrospective case studies, and initial results from the scenario evaluations.
The SAB will provide an opportunity for public comment before its review meeting on March 7-8. EPA will revise the plan in response to the SAB’s comments and publish its interim research results by the end of 2012. A followup report is planned for 2014. More information is available at EPA’s hydraulic fracturing website.
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[...] congressionally mandated study of hydraulic fracturing shale gas production, or “fracking.” As previously discussed in this blog, EPA’s study plan for retrospective cases studies will analyze previously reported [...]
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