The Environmental Protection Agency's Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) on Thursday released a peer review criticizing the agency's June report
that said no evidence exists showing that hydraulic fracturing causes
widespread damage to drinking water supplies, Susan Phillips and Jon
Hurdle report for StateImpact. "The advisory board raised concerns about 'clarity and adequacy of support for several major findings.'"
The review said EPA science advisor Thomas A. Burke's remarks that “based upon
available scientific information, we found that hydraulic
fracturing activities in the United States are carried out in a way that
has not led to widespread systemic impacts on drinking water sources"
are "ambiguous and inconsistent with 'the uncertainties and data
limitations' detailed within the EPA’s fracking report," Phillips and
Hurdle write. SAB recommends EPA "rewrite the report to include
explanations of those limitations."
SAB "points out
that local impacts can be 'severe' and the agency should do a better job
explaining to the general public gaps in the data as well as the status
of the investigations in high profile places like Dimock, as well as
Pavilion, Wyoming and Parker County, Texas," Phillips writes. EPA press
secretary Melissa Harrison told reporters: ”We will use the comments
from the SAB, along with the comments from members of the public, to
evaluate how to augment and revise the draft assessment." A final report
is expected sometime this year. (Read more)
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