Natural Gas Drilling
Push Is on in Congress to Require Gas Drillers to Reveal Chemicals Seeping Into Groundwater
ProPublica investigation into contamination prompts add-on that would change the way the natural gas industry does business in the West, elsewhere.By Jule Banville, 7-30-10
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| A drill rig in Sublette County, Wyo. Photo by and courtesy of Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica. | |
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Legislation prompted by the Gulf oil spill is also giving traction to sought-after protections regarding water contamination connected to natural gas-drilling. According to the latest in the investigative series “Buried Secrets” by the nonprofit journalism outfit ProPublica, the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act includes language that would require drilling companies disclose chemicals injected into the ground to break up rock, a process called hydraulic fracturing.
In most states where natural-gas drilling occurs, companies consider the chemicals they use proprietary and the mixture has, to date, been only lightly regulated. Although an EPA study proffered that these chemicals do not seep in to water supplies to the extent of putting people at risk, the ProPublica investagation reported more than a thousand cases of ground and surface water contamination in drilling areas where the process was being used. The articles examined drilling records in more than seven states, and found both a consistent pattern of water contamination in drilling areas, and a gap in scientific knowledge about the way hydraulic fracturing affects underground layers of rock and aquifers.
As part of the series, lead author Abrahm Lustgarten looked in depth at contamination in Sublette County, Wyo., home of one of the nation’s largest natural gas fields, and at a political pact made in Grand Junction and Pinedale, Colo., that could serve as a model for other communities trying to manage drilling.
According to Lustgarten, it’s not clear how far the bill will get in the face of Republican opposition. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who added the disclosure component to the accountability bill, has said he hoped to bring the bill to a vote next week. Even if it passes, it will need to be reconciled with a House version that does not include the fracturing disclosure language.
In addition, Politico notes that Reid may have added the disclosure language as a note to environmentalists, who have been upset that the Senate has moved away from a bill on global warming.
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