Posted on 04/13/2011 10:41:37 AM PDT by thackney
Texas Sen. John Cornyn testified Tuesday against additional federal regulations for natural gas drilling.
“In my opinion, there is no need to destroy current the partnership between state and federal regulators and put the EPA in the driver’s seat,” Cornyn, R-San Antonio, said at a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing.
Cornyn said he believes states are currently effectively regulating hydraulic fracturing, a process that creates fractures in rocks by injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressures, allowing the extraction of natural gas.
“Texas and the U.S. have a bountiful supply of natural gas. This has implications for job creation, our economy and our future energy security,” said Cornyn.
In Texas the oil and gas industry is big business providing more than 1.7 million jobs and accounting for almost 25 percent of the state’s economy, according to Cornyn’s testimony.
Cornyn said additional measures imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would lead to duplicative regulation and delays which would stifle gas production and job growth. He is specifically opposed to the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act introduced last month by Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa.
The FRAC Act would allow the EPA to set certain requirements for hydraulic fracturing and mandate public disclosure of chemicals used in the process.
According to Larry Smar, Casey’s spokesperson, the FRAC Act would only allow the EPA to set a minimum standard.
At the hearing Cornyn said that state regulations and a new national registry that allows voluntary disclosure of the chemicals used in the fracturing process is enough.
“Additional regulations would take with them jobs and local, state and federal revenue,” said Cornyn.
Still, some lawmakers including Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., expressed concerns that chemicals used in the fracturing process could contaminate drinking water and as a result should be further regulated.
Sometimes the wastewater from hydraulic fracturing is sent to sewage treatment plants, which are incapable of removing some of the contaminants before the water is discharged.
According to Robert Perciasepe, deputy administrator for the EPA, further regulations are necessary to ensure that drinking water isn’t contaminated.
He said the EPA only wants to provide “oversight on the state programs, providing guidance where we can and where we see some eminent endangerment, we may take our own action on that.”
FracFocus, the hydraulic fracturing chemical registry website
http://fracfocus.org/
Haliburton Fluid Disclosure
http://www.halliburton.com/public/projects/pubsdata/Hydraulic_Fracturing/fluids_disclosure.html
That’s exactly why the Enviros want to put the Feds and the EPA in charge. Straight-thinking Conservative Governors like Tom Corbett have been refusing to play the game with them.
It really has nothing to do with fracking chemicals and more to do with the wingnuts fight against energy development.
OMG! Don’t put the EPA in charge! It’s the worst possible nightmare I can think of at this point.
OMG! Don’t put the EPA in charge! It’s the worst possible nightmare I can think of at this point.
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