Lawmakers urge colleagues, EPA to leave 'fracking' regulation to the states

Democrats from natural-gas states joined Republicans Tuesday in telling Energy and Commerce Committee leaders and the Environmental Protection Agency that regulation of hydraulic fracturing should be left up to the states. The drilling technique blasts a high pressure mixture of water, chemicals and sand to create tiny cracks in shale formations to release previously unreachable gas reserves and is under review by EPA after widespread reports of water contamination near "fracking" sites. The letter urges EPA not to use the study to "usurp state regulation of the technology," Katie Howell of Environment & Energy Daily reports.

The letter, sent to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Massachusetts Ed Markey (D-Mass.), was authored by Oklahoma Republican Rep. John Sullivan and Arkansas Democratic Rep. Mike Ross and signed by 14 other committee members. The authors wrote that federal regulation would "add burdensome and unnecessary regulatory requirements to the drilling and completion of oil and gas wells, which could result in increasing costs of producing domestic natural gas resources without any additional benefit to public health, safety or the environment."

In a separate letter to EPA, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said "federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing would hamstring the industry and would cause the nation to continue relying on foreign sources of energy," Howell reports. (Read more)

"There's no reason to think EPA's current study will render results that differ a whole lot from the various other studies that have been done on the subject," Chris Tucker of the Washington, D.C., gas-industry group Energy in Depth, told Dan Vergano of USA Today. In 2004 EPA found the technology "safe and well-regulated." USA Today also has an excellent Flash graphic explaining the fracking process. To see it, go here.