Those of you in the oil and gas industry are no doubt familiar with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s claim that fracking is a potential source of groundwater contamination, and that a moratorium on the use of fracking should be enacted until EPA can study it to death. (Note: For lay people, hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a technique used to increase oil and gas yields in petroleum-bearing formations. It involves injecting fluids at high pressure into the formation to increase its transmission properties.)
This step—one EPA has been hinting about for months—will be another nail in the energy industry’s coffin if its representatives do not step up and oppose this utterly unwarranted accusation. Will you rise to the challenge?
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In August 2010, Lisa Jackson, executive director of the EPA, delivered a speech commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Clean Air Act (CAA), crediting it with vastly improving air quality in the U.S., and claiming that its existence had:
· adding “trillions of dollars in health benefits for our nation;”
· creating millions of jobs;
· had a significant positive impact on our Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
A report card to be proud of…. if only it were true. Looking at actual facts, however, we see a very different story.
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In early 1968 there was a desperate need for our nation to understand the manner in which our citizens were unwittingly befouling our beautiful earth’s air, water and soil. As a mechanism for doing this a handful of environmental scientists including myself began to lobby the Congress for the establishment of a federal agency that could set the tone for our states to begin enhancing their environmental protection efforts.
We succeeded in 1970 in having the USEPA established, but that was just the beginning of a decade long educational process for our elected officials. During the ensuing decade I personally testified about three dozen times on behalf of the the passage of a safety net of environmental regulations intended to be handed down to the various states to carryout on their own. [click to continue…]
