A 2004 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report that concluded hydraulic fracturing was not a significant threat to drinking water was never intended to permanently preclude the drilling method from environmental regulation, says a former agency official who oversaw the report. "Whether it's hydraulic fracturing or any other type of practice that can have an impact on the environment, one single report shouldn't be the basis for a perpetual, never-ending policy decision," Benjamin Grumbles, who was assistant administrator for water at EPA during in the George W. Bush administration, told ProPublica.
The industry and Congress used the conclusions from the report to "bolster the case for passing a law that prohibited the EPA from regulating fracking under the Safe Drinking Water Act," Abrahm Lustgarten reports. "It wasn't meant to be a bill of health saying 'well, this practice is fine. Exempt it in all respects from any regulation,'" said Grumbles, who is now on the board of the Clean Water America Alliance. "I'm sure that wasn't the intent of the panel of experts, and EPA never viewed it that way." Grumbles also noted Bush administration officials made it clear no EPA employees were supposed to publicly support or oppose the legislation. (Read more)
The industry and Congress used the conclusions from the report to "bolster the case for passing a law that prohibited the EPA from regulating fracking under the Safe Drinking Water Act," Abrahm Lustgarten reports. "It wasn't meant to be a bill of health saying 'well, this practice is fine. Exempt it in all respects from any regulation,'" said Grumbles, who is now on the board of the Clean Water America Alliance. "I'm sure that wasn't the intent of the panel of experts, and EPA never viewed it that way." Grumbles also noted Bush administration officials made it clear no EPA employees were supposed to publicly support or oppose the legislation. (Read more)
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