In the span of four days, the Teton County Commission and the U.S. Congress have approved language concerning the increasingly controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing.

In Jackson, the Teton County commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution calling for energy companies to disclose the contents of their fracking fluids.

Their reasoning is derived from Teton County’s proximity to Sublette County gas fields where energy operators use hydraulic fracturing to stimulate their wells’ gas

production.

Hydraulic fracturing injects a high-pressure mixture of mud, water, sand and fracking chemicals into gas wells to break up or “loosen” gas-containing rock. In the highly competitive and lucrative natural gas industry, energy

companies consider their fracking fluids’ chemicals as proprietary information.

It is these proprietary chemicals that the Teton County commissioners want

disclosed.

Because injured Sublette County gas workers are sometimes transported to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson, the Teton commissioners’ resolution expressed consternation that Teton County medical workers could be exposed to harmful, undocumented fracking chemicals.

“The Board of County Commissioners expresses its deepest concern about the use of hydraulic fracturing in Sublette County,” the resolution read, “in particular its potential to harm the health and safety of Sublette County health workers.”

The resolution also cited concerns about hydraulic fracturing’s effect on underground sources of drinking water (USDW).

While benign ingredients compose the majority of fracturing fluids, toxic chemicals comprise a small proportion. But because fracturing uses up to 500,000 gallons of fluids per well and a percentage of those fluids are never recovered, health and environmental advocates worry fracking’s cumulative effects could pollute water wells. They cite several cases where well fracking is blamed for contaminated domestic water wells.

By contrast, the energy industry claims no domestic water well has been contaminated by hydraulic fracturing. It cites a 2004 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study that found the practice to be safe. That same study was used in a 2005 energy bill to exempt hydraulic fracturing from EPA regulation under the Clean Water Act.

But last summer, Rep. Dianna DeGette (D-Colo.) introduced legislation to Congress that would give the EPA oversight over hydraulic fracturing.

Citing that bill, the Teton County commissioners urged Congress to pass the legislation and “in the alternative, for the EPA to conduct a comprehensive study of the effects of hydraulic fracturing on USDWs…”

In a press release, the Sublette County group Citizens United for Responsible Energy Development (CURED) applauded the Teton commissioners “…who were receptive, concerned and completely supportive of the need to protect clean drinking water and the health and safety of its people.”

Sublette County Commissioner Chair Bill Cramer reported that he had not read the resolution and therefore had no comment about it.



Congressional action

Coincidentally, Congress passed a bill containing a provision that urges the EPA to study the effects of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water four days before the Teton County Commission meeting.

The provision was inserted into a conference report for H.R. 2996, an appropriations bill, by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) – and signed by President Obama on Oct. 30.

The provision urges the EPA to conduct a study “…using a credible approach that relies on the best available science, as well as independent sources of information.”

Critics of the 2004 EPA study say it was flawed by its data collection practices and reliance on sources that had vested interests in the oil and gas industry.

Energy industry representatives counter that the study was conducted by well-respected researches with extensive knowledge of the energy industry.

As more gas exploration moves to the Marcellus Play in New York and Pennsylvania, the debate over fracking appears to be heating up.

Last week, Rep. Hinchey’s three-sentence provision caught the attention of The New York Times’ editorial board that asked, “But if hydraulic fracturing is as safe as the industry says it is, why should it fear regulation?”

The energy industry believes otherwise. It says the states exact vigorous oversight over fracking and it claims a federal layer of oversight is unnecessary and expensive.

In March, the Wyoming Legislature passed a joint resolution asking Congress to preserve hydraulic fracturing’s EPA

exemption.



For the complete article see the 11-10-2009 issue.

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