BY POLLY MANN
An independent board of scientists, the Science Advisory Board, has stated that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should clarify why it claimed, in a landmark draft report on fracking, that there is a lack of evidence of its widespread impacts on water. The board said that it was concerned about the clarity and adequacy of evidence to support “several major findings” found in a draft assessment report on fracking first published by the EPA last year.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process in which drillers inject chemicals, sand and water into wells to shatter shale rock, extracting oil and gas. Since the fracking boom began in the mid-2000s, mounting reports of rural communities dealing with failed aquifers have sparked queries on the effects of fracking on the environment and groundwater. Over the years fracking has also been associated with earthquakes and oil spills.
The board’s report is a blow to the oil and gas industry, which had backed the EPA’s draft conclusions in its preliminary report that included the statement that fracking is safe. The EPA developed the draft assessment report on fracking in response to a 2009 request from Congress, which urged the EPA to review the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water. Experts have reported that the study could be the preamble to a federal fracking rule, inasmuch as the Mercury Air Toxics Standard began in a similar fashion.
The board, comprised of 30 experts, also recommended that the EPA discuss “significant data limitations and uncertainties” when presenting major findings in the fracking report, which condenses available scientific literature and data on the potential impacts of fracturing. It also said the EPA should compile toxicological information on the chemicals employed in fracturing in “a more inclusive manner,” recognizing the many stresses fracking inflicts on surface or groundwater resources.
Environmental groups quickly applauded the board’s review and said they would encourage the EPA to adopt the recommendations that the agency could theoretically dismiss. “The EPA failed the public with its misleading and controversial line, dismissing fracking’s impacts on drinking water and sacrificing public health and welfare along the way,” said Hugh MacMillan, senior researcher at Food & Water Watch. “We are calling on the EPA to act quickly on the recommendations from the Science Advisory Board and to be clear about fracking’s impacts on drinking water resources.” The final EPA report could be published as early as next year.
