Posts Tagged ‘energyindepth.org’
14 Days After Praising America’s Shale Gas as a “BIG Source of New Electrical Generation,” U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) Seeks Out Platform from Which to Smear It
REP. MARKEY, TWO WEEKS AGO …
Rep. Ed Markey Praising Development of Marcellus Shale
Carter Wood
NAM’s ShopFloor.org
December 2, 2009
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and a sponsor of the House-passed cap-and-trade legislation, participated in a good public discussion yesterday at the Capitol sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute and Newsweek magazine.
Given the astonishing expansion of natural gas in the United States thanks to hydrofracturing and directional drilling making shale deposits accessible, it was encouraging to hear Chairman Markey’s comments in support of its development.
Rep. Ed Markey: “Ninety percent of all new electrical capacity in America since 1990 has been natural gas, and it’s going to continue on that way as a base load with the new mandates for renewable electricity in the states having a higher percentage increasingly coming from that source. But natural gas is going to do very well in the future, and the discoveries from the Marcellus Shale all the way through Barnett, that is all the way from New York down to Texas, are going to be big source of new electrical generation.”
NOTE: Click HERE to listen to an audio file of Congressman Markey’s comments.
REP. MARKEY, TODAY …
Markey calls for Exxon/XTO merger hearing
Tom Fowler
Houston Chronicle
December 15, 2009
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee is calling for a special hearing into the planned merger between Exxon Mobil and XTO Energy:
“This proposed merger also raises a number of issues with respect to the future direction of the U.S. domestic oil and gas industry, competition within the industry, and the potential environmental impact of increased unconventional natural gas development.”
No doubt issues like environmental concerns over hydraulic fracturing are part of the reason.
But there’s also the issue of natural gas as a power plant fuel which, as a helpful reader at EnergyInDepth.org pointed out, Markey believes is a key fact of life moving forward. Quoting Markey from a Newsweek-sponsored event earlier this month:
“Ninety percent of all new electrical capacity in America since 1990 has been natural gas, and it’s going to continue on that way as a base load with the new mandates for renewable electricity in the states having a higher percentage increasingly coming from that source. But natural gas is going to do very well in the future, and the discoveries from the Marcellus Shale all the way through Barnett, that is all the way from New York down to Texas, are going to be big source of new electrical generation.”
Continued>>
Coalition Exhibition Seeks to Educate Key State Legislators, Staff on Safety, Imperative of Hydraulic Fracturing
PHILADELPHIA – As the American people continue to read more about, hear referenced, and see firsthand the critical role that hydraulic fracturing plays in delivering our nation a clean, secure energy future, the Energy In Depth coalition is taking that message on the road – hosting an educational exhibition this week at the 2009 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) legislative summit in Philadelphia.
“As more and more communities across the country look to leverage their energy resources into thousands of area jobs and billions in local and state revenue, reasonable people are bound to ask reasonable questions about whether the process in place for producing that energy is safe, efficient and properly regulated,” said Lee Fuller, policy director for the coalition of mostly small and independent producers of American energy.
Added Fuller: “It’s precisely these questions the Energy In Depth coalition was formed to answer – wherever, whenever and from whomever they’re asked. And that’s the reason we’re in Philadelphia this week: to encourage and help inform a dialogue that’s based on facts, not fear; on-the-ground evidence, not off-the-wall hyperbole.”
From Tuesday through Thursday, Energy In Depth will host an educational exhibition in the Philadelphia Convention Center aimed at giving state legislators and staff an opportunity to see firsthand how advances in hydraulic fracturing and other innovative technologies are helping to fuel their community, fund their state, and confront our nation’s dangerous and growing dependence on foreign energy.
This opportunity to speak directly to lawmakers and key officials comes as a wave of support continues to build in state capitals and county courthouses across the nation in opposition to federal, one-size-fits-all legislation that could strip states of their rights to regulate hydraulic fracturing, and ultimately slow energy production. In fact, just this week, the United States Energy Council – a coalition of state legislators from energy producing states – issued this statement of policy. In its statement to congressional leaders and administration officials, the council writes:
- “The Energy Council urges the United States Congress to maintain state regulatory jurisdiction over oil and gas hydraulic fracturing operations and refrain from extending federal jurisdiction, under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act.”
This letter follows action from states, including Alabama, Louisiana, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Texas, who understand that hydraulic fracturing is a safe technology and critical tool for economic development and job creation, and have taken action to urge the federal government to not interfere with the current state regulatory framework.
The exhibit will be displayed at location 153 in the far left corner of the convention floor. A detailed map of the venue can be found HERE. Energy experts will be manning the booth during the regular exhibit hall hours, which are:
Tuesday, July 21, 10am – 5pm
Wednesday, July 22, 9am – 4pm
Thursday, July 23, 9am – 3pm
Read More:
###
www.EnergyInDepth.org
Continued>>
As facts continue to circulate, and the public continues to learn more about the long, clear and uncompromising record of safety that hydraulic fracturing has built up over the past 60 years, local governments, columnists, and even left-of-center think tank-types continue to acknowledge that clean-burning American natural gas is key to creating jobs here at job home and increasing our nation’s security. And increasingly: they’re starting to recognize the critical role that hydraulic fracturing technology plays in making those gas resources possible.
Under the headline “Cities, counties oppose legislation on gas fracturing,” today’s Grand Junction Daily Senintel reports:
- “Opponents of a measure that would give federal authority over hydraulic fracturing for natural gas have marshaled opposition from several Western Slope counties and cities. The measure sponsored by Reps. Diana DeGette and Jared Polis, Democrats from Denver and Boulder, respectively, has yet to garner the support of the congressional representatives of the districts in which most fracturing occurs.“
- “Six counties, including Delta, Mesa, Moffat and Rio Blanco counties on the Western Slope, and Morgan and Weld counties in northern Colorado east of the Continental Divide, have adopted resolutions opposing the legislation.“
- “The towns of Delta, Naturita, Nucla, Rangely and Grand Junction oppose the bill. The measure … is “vague and not narrowly tailored to balance and protect the important local, state and domestic interests of resource exploration,” Grand Junction Mayor Bruce Hill said in a council-authorized letter to legislators. “Please do not allow a vague bill to be passed,” the Grand Junction letter said.”
Denver Post columnist, Vincent Carroll, goes even further in today’s paper. Under the headline “Fracking scare tactics,” Carroll opines this:
- “Want to give the federal government more power to regulate an industry? Start by telling scare stories to alarm the public and set the industry on its heels. U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, a Boulder Democrat, proved a quick study this month when he joined several colleagues, including Colorado’s Diana DeGette, in introducing the “FRAC Act” – the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act – which would add a layer of regulation over a technology used to boost natural gas production.”
- “So just how many times has fracking been linked to the contamination of drinking water because of migrating chemicals? Would you believe zero – despite its use in literally hundreds of thousands of gas wells, including nearly all in Colorado? … There are no documented cases of groundwater contamination caused by fracking. … And no wonder. The fracking liquids would typically have had to migrate thousands of feet through layers of impervious shale to reach groundwater.”
- “Surely Congress, in these fragile economic times, can find better things to do.”
Today, 9 out of 10 wells produced in America are fracked. Without this environmentally-safe technique, clean-burning natural gas production would be dramatically disrupted, or altogether stopped. This threat, posed by the DeGette-Casey FRAC Act, makes comments from Charles Ebinger, Director of the Brookings Institute Energy Security Initiative, that much more profound. In an analysis regarding G8 energy policy, Edbinger wrote this:
- “After Copenhagen, as energy experts rather than environmentalists hopefully take the reins of U.S. energy policy formulation, the outlines for a sound policy that will also benefit the climate until a carbon tax can be implemented are clear: (1) an aggressive push both in the United States and Europe to develop unconventional shale gas for base load power generation. In the case of the United States, shale gas has raised U.S. natural gas reserves over the last 4 years by 35%.
Continued>>
Earlier today, the Center for American Progress (CAP), an influential, left-of-center public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., posted a memo on its website in support of the FRAC Act of 2009 – legislation that seeks to impede the development of America’s abundant shale gas resources by targeting the critical tools needed to bring those resources to market.
Naturally, the CAP memo chooses not to characterize the purpose or intent of the legislation as such. Instead, CAP senior fellow Tom Kenworthy describes the bill as an attempt to force the energy industry to “disclose the chemicals it uses and … make fracking subject once again to the Safe Drinking Water Act.”
Of course, hydraulic fracturing has never been subject to the Safe Drinking Water Act, making it both physically difficult and semantically impossible to “subject” it “once again” to an Act of which it was never the object of regulation in the first place.
Other errors of fact, characterization, omission and commission are identified and corrected below.
CAP: “Re-establishing federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing seems a sensible precaution.”
Response: As indicated above, hydraulic fracturing has never been under the direct jurisdiction of federal law, rendering inaccurate the suggestion that “[r]e-establishing” such regulation would be a “sensible precaution.”
That’s not to suggest, however, that the technology is now, or has ever been, free from regulation. States have been regulating and overseeing the fracturing process for more than 60 years. And in that time, they’ve compiled a record of safety that few oversight agencies – be they local, state or federal – can match.
Unfortunately, this error in understanding appears to be common, especially among those who believe that, since fracturing earned an “exemption” from federal regulation in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (supported by then-Sen. Barack Obama), it must be the case that fracturing was covered by federal statute previous to that.
But the Energy Policy Act did not exempt hydraulic fracturing from federal regulation. It simply clarified the position of Congress with respect to whether hydraulic fracturing was ever intended to be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). It was not — a judgment supported in full by the history of SDWA.
CAP: “The oil and gas industry has recently begun a multimillion campaign to defend the practice against the new legislation, which would force the industry to disclose the chemicals it uses and would make fracking subject once again to the Safe Drinking Water Act.”
Response: While appreciative of Mr. Kenworthy’s generous characterization of the Energy In Depth coalition, we must again take issue with his suggestion that the DeGette/Casey legislation “would make fracking subject once again to the Safe Drinking Water Act.” That assertion, as we’ve shown, is mistaken.
So too is the CAP description of the DeGette/Casey bill as an effort to “force industry to disclose the chemicals it uses,” a notion premised on the idea that state regulators have no access to information related to the materials used in local fracturing operations. The truth is, states do have access to that information. Some of them even post it on the Internet.
In spirit and in letter, H.R. 2766 is about EPA regulation, not disclosure – with section 2(a) of the bill clearly amending SDWA to include the regulation of hydraulic fracturing under its portfolio. With SDWA regulation comes EPA permit-authority of the process, a prospect that then-EPA administrator Carol Browner admitted was unnecessary in 1995.
For more information on what the DeGette bill actually does, please visit here.
CAP: “[ProPublica] asserts that more than 1,000 cases of water contamination near areas of oil and gas drilling have been documented by courts and government agencies across several states.”
Response: On this, Mr. Kenworthy is right: ProPublica does assert that. Left on the cutting-room floor is the following fact: Not a single documented case of drinking water contamination has ever been credibly tied to hydraulic fracturing. Not one. In 60 years.
From where does that “1,000 cases” figure arise? Last year, 452,000 wells produced natural gas in the United States. Recognizing the potential in that volume of activity, opponents of hydraulic fracturing have asked state regulators to produce detailed lists of each individual case in which a well was breached or any amount of methane compromised the integrity of the well. That none of these cases could be proved to have had anything to do with hydraulic fracturing is rarely mentioned.
In 2004, no less an authority than EPA itself undertook an exhaustive research project aimed at finding out, once and for all, whether hydraulic fracturing posed a legitimate risk to ground and drinking water. It found “no evidence” of any such risk. In his defense, Mr. Kenworthy references this study in his memo.
CAP: “Fracking is used in most U.S. oil and gas wells and involves pumping a combination of water, sand, and chemicals under high pressure deep into rock formations that hold oil and gas.”
Response: While this definition of hydraulic fracturing is technically accurate, the author’s insistence on lumping together “water, sand, and chemicals” implies that the concentrations of each must be in equal, or at least similar, parts.
The reality of the situation is quite a bit different, as water and sand on average comprise 99.51% of the liquids and materials used in the fracturing process (see graphic on page 62 of this report, issued in April by the Ground Water Protection Council and the U.S. Department of Energy). “[C]hemicals,” the vast majority of which you can find in your cupboard or under your sink, make up less than one-half of one-percent of the total mixture.
CAP: “Deep gas formations are ‘thousands of feet below the land surface and are separated from freshwater supplies by layers of steel casing, protected by concrete barriers as well as millions of tons of hard, dense solid rock geologic formations,’ said Chesapeake Energy Corporation Vice President Mike John during congressional testimony on July 4.”
Response: Not to pile on, but the hearing was held on June 4. Three weeks ago today.
More resources and materials from Energy In Depth:
Continued>>
Tags: Add new tag, anti-hydraulic fracturing, Bob Casey, Diana DeGette, Energy In Depth, energyindepth.org, fracing, fracking, Haynesville, Jobs, natural gas, Rep. John Fleming, shale
24.June.2009admin
Last night, Congressman John Fleming, a freshman from northwestern Louisiana – where massive amounts of economic growth, jobs and government revenues have been created as a direct result of clean-burning natural gas production in the Haynesville Shale region – took to the House floor to tout the real-life impact that American energy production creates and to dispel untruths about the environmentally-safe energy production technique known as hydraulic fracturing.
And as Mr. Fleming’s time to speak expired, he was preparing to show the American people an Energy In Depth diagram displaying how hydraulic fracturing safely produces clean-burning natural gas. Seriously, Mr. Speaker: You couldn’t have given him an extra 10 seconds to do that?
Key Excerpts:
“[Haynesville Shale natural gas production has] pumped $4.5 billion into the economy in FY 2008. It’s created nearly $3.9 billion in household earnings in the same year. The greatest impact on indirect and household earnings was experienced by workers in the mining sector with new household earnings of $191.3 million in 2008. It’s created over $30 million in new earnings in seven separate sectors.”
“[Haynesville Shale natural gas production has] created directly and indirectly over 32,000 jobs.”
“Conservative estimates report that state and local tax revenues increased by at least $153.3 million in 2008.”
“I wanted to talk a moment about how we get the natural gas out of that shale that we are talking about, that’s two miles deep in the earth. The method is called hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracing is a more common term. This method has been used for over 60 years and responsible for 30 percent of America’s recoverable oil and gas. Of wells currently operating today, wells currently operating today, over 90 percent have been fractured at least once.
“Environmentalists and their allies in Congress are escalating their assault on affordable and reliable energy with legislation that would place regulation of hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act, SWDA. A law that was never intended for this purpose.”
“This legislation would have a far-reaching negative impact on energy and energy producers and consumers alike. For years this process has been safely and effectively regulated by individual states. And of the more than one million wells fractured, not a single case, not a single case of drinking water contamination has ever been recorded.”
“In my state of Louisiana, three different agencies have oversight related to this process. So you see, it’s not an unregulated process.”
NOTE: Click HERE to watch this floor speech.
Continued>>
Tags: Add new tag, anti-hydraulic fracturing, Bob Casey, Diana DeGette, energyindepth.org, fracking, Hydraulic fracturing, Jobs, natural gas, Pennsylvania, shale
23.June.2009admin
Following last week’s historic report determining that the U.S. now has more than 100 years worth of proven natural gas reserves, up more than 58 percent than was previously thought, news organizations nationwide are paying close attention to:
1) the massive amounts of good-paying jobs clean-burning natural gas production will create here at home;
2) the fact that the more American energy we produce, the less dependent we are on foreign and unstable nations to keep our economy moving; and
3) the process to produce natural gas trapped thousands of feet below the water table in dense rock formations – called hydraulic fracturing – is not only heavily regulated, but it has a long, clear, proven safety record.
Here’s just a sample of the recent reports:
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Editorial
“America’s supply of natural gas is considerably greater than commonly thought, thanks to advances in recovery technology that now allow for drilling in shale rock.”
“But fossil fuels will continue to make up a major part of the equation for years, if not decades. Start drilling — now.”
Uniontown (PA) Herald Standard
“The Marcellus Shale natural gas formation is expected to create 100,000 jobs over the next decade.”
“The Marcellus Shale could make Pennsylvania “the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.”
“The shale must be fractured for the gas to be extracted. … D’Amico said to “frac” the shale, a combination of 90 percent water, 9.95 percent sand and .05 percent chemicals is used. Thus the drilling process will not contaminate water.”
“The drilling process includes three layers of pipe. He said wells one mile deep in the ground are well isolated from surface water, adding that everything that is done is regulated by the state Department of Environmental Protection.”
Bloomberg/LA Times
“U.S. natural gas reserves are likely 39 percent higher than estimated just two years ago as new technology is revealing deeper potential resources of energy. The U.S. has an estimated 1,836 trillion cubic feet of potential natural gas, the most on record, according to a report today by the Potential Gas Committee, a group of industry, government and academic volunteers. The estimate is up from 1,321 trillion cubic feet two years ago. The amount of proven and potential gas would meet U.S. demand for almost 100 years.”
“The DeGette/Casey bill would require permits from the Environmental Protection Agency.”
“Michael Decker, executive vice president for Gasco Energy Inc. said fracturing projects his company is working on drill to depths of 13,000 feet or more and that drinking water sources are generally at about 300 feet. He also said that the drilling wells are incased in concrete and that the substances used to extract gas are now less hazardous.”
Oklahoma Journal Record
“The dynamic rise of shale natural gas plays over the last decade, capped by the huge Marcellus Shale find from West Virginia to New York, has raised a backlash from environmentalists and East Coast metropolitan leaders concerned over hydrofracing.”
“A proven method of increasing oil and gas production, energy supporters point to five decades of injecting pressurized water, sand and chemicals into wells, all without evidence of groundwater contamination.”
“I don’t understand it,” he said of proposals that the EPA employ its own well-inspection crews.”
“Such a law could stop most or all drilling while the agency created, prepared and deployed its staff – which could take months. “I think it is counter-productive to everything that the Obama administration wants to do.”
Continued>>
Tags: anti-hydraulic fracturing, Energy In Depth, energyindepth.org, fracing, fracking, Haynesville, Hydraulic fracturing, Jobs, Louisiana, natural gas, shale, small business
19.June.2009admin
Still plenty of buzz around the Potential Gas Committee report this week – a biennial review of available U.S. natural gas reserves that found we may be sitting on a resource base 58% higher than previously thought. To what do we owe this extraordinary circumstance? The safe and responsible utilization of hydraulic fracturing, which, paired up with horizontal drilling, has allowed us to capture and deliver energy resources that were previously in rock too deep, too hard and too expensive to access. Hailed by Energy In Depth in a press release, the study further demonstrates that serious resources are available right here at home to help drive down energy costs and make America less dependent on Middle Eastern nations to fuel our economy.
It’s very simple. More American energy means more American jobs. Look no further than Shreveport, Louisiana for proof of that. As the Potential Gas Committee found, most of the newly discovered energy reserves are locked thousands of feet below the surface in thick, deep shale-rock formations. Without hydraulic fracturing, these resources could not be produced, and the associated jobs and massive government revenues, would not be generated.
Today’s Shreveport Times is a case-study of how responsible energy development is being used in communities across the United States as a key driver of local economic growth. The Haynesville Shale formation has been an economic game-changer in northwestern Louisiana. In fact, BusinessWeek ranked the energy-producing city “as 15th among its top 20 places in the U.S. where companies are hiring and the quality of life is high.”
The paper writes:
“Interest in the Haynesville Shale…continues to fuel employment in the region. The natural gas formation…has pumped millions of dollars into some property owners’ pockets — including local governments — since the discovery was announced in April 2008. A recently completed economic impact study estimates Haynesville Shale activity created about 32,742 jobs, about $2.4 billion in business sales statewide and nearly $3.9 billion in household earnings, including almost $3.2 billion in lease and royalty payments to private landowners, in 2008.”
Unfortunately, some in Washington are focused on hampering this positive growth and production of clean-burning natural gas through burdensome red-tape and duplicative mandates.
In today’s New York Times, the Energy In Depth coalition summarizes what fracturing techology means to America’s energy security — and how without this safe practice, the economic expansion seen in Shreveport, would not be possible:
“Hydraulic fracturing is the Rosetta Stone of natural gas development. With it, otherwordly amounts of shale and tight-pocket gas can be found, produced and delivered to Americans who need it. Without it, those resources remain trapped underground.”
Continued>>
As editorials from across the nation continue to oppose duplicative and unnecessary federal regulations of the critical well stimulation technology known as hydraulic fracturing, an uprising in energy-producing communities and states continues to grow. Western Colorado’s energy-rich Mesa County is just the most recent example of this growing wave of opposition to overreaching federal efforts.
As reported by the Grand Junction Sentinel, the DeGette-Casey anti-fracking bill “drew the ire of the Mesa County Commission on Monday. The commission unanimously passed a two-page resolution in opposition to further regulation. The resolution also claims if Congress passes the bill, it will drive up energy costs and add to Washington bureaucracy.”
The commissioners noted that the bill’s chief authors in the U.S. House, Reps. Diana DeGette and Jared Polis, both Colorado Democrats, represent districts “that have limited or no energy production.”
With facts not on their side, fracking opponents continue to deploy scare tactics and hyperbole. But Mesa Co. Commissioner Craig Meis, who authored the county’s resolution, affirmed this:
“I guarantee you I can go into anybody’s household and find more dry chemicals than on any well pad. 99.5 percent of [frac fluid] is basically water and sand.”
The paper reported that Commissioner Meis “then handed out a list of common frac-fluid ingredients that showed many of the same ingredients can be found in dental cleaners, hair-care products, makeup and pool cleaners,” and that “no one spoke against the county resolution or in favor of the federal legislation.”
Rep. Cynthia Lumis (R-WY), a member of the Natural Resources Committee, may have said it best, in describing the efforts by some in Washington to effectively halt environmentally-safe production of clean-burning natural gas.
The Sublette Examiner quoted the freshman congresswoman, saying:
“This legislation is a classic example of Washington politicians searching for a problem to address their solution. It is time we put science above emotion on this issue.”
Continued>>
Tags: Add new tag, anti-hydraulic fracturing, Bob Casey, Diana DeGette, Energy In Depth, energyindepth.org, fracing, fracking, Hydraulic fracturing, natural gas, www.energyindepth.org
15.June.2009admin
States largest paper calls efforts an “indefensible…power grab”
The Oklahoman, the state’s largest newspaper, took direct aim at Rep. Dianna DeGette’s anti-hydraulic fracturing legislation in an editorial today.
Titled “Power play: Fracturing plan wrong, indefensible,” the paper calls the renewed efforts by DeGette and other lawmakers to erect new and potentially insurmountable obstacles to the responsible development of clean-burning American natural gas “a solution in search of a problem.”
Like a host of other papers, The Oklahoman rightly points out that the true objective of the DeGette-Casey bill attacking hydraulic fracturing – contrary to how it’s been characterized by its authors – is to initiate an unprecedented EPA power grab over local oil and gas activities currently regulated (quite well) in the states. The paper writes: “The latest power grab is an attempt to switch regulation of hydraulic fracturing from the states to the Environmental Protection Agency.”
But thankfully, there are federal lawmakers who understand the facts and appreciate the critical role that hydraulic fracturing plays in delivering America’s energy future. The Oklahoman cites Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, who has said DeGette’s bill would be “disastrous for the industry.”
The paper closes with this:
“Fracturing has been around for 50 years. Boren said the evidence from using the technique thousands of times for half a century doesn’t indicate a problem with drinking water contamination. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to require companies to disclose the chemicals used in the process and allow the EPA to ensure compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. This is a solution in search of a problem.”
As gas prices continue to rise, up for the 48th consecutive day, it’s difficult to understand why some in Congress are working to inhibit, impede and in some cases prohibit responsible, homegrown energy production – even as it continues to be among the most direct and effective ways to reduce our dependence on foreign nations, drive down costs for consumers and create millions of new jobs in the process.
Continued>>
Tags: anti-hydraulic fracturing, Bob Casey, Diana DeGette, Energy In Depth, energyindepth.org, Hinchey, Hydraulic fracturing, Maurice Hinchey, natural gas, regulation, shale
12.June.2009admin
Got your attention, didn’t we? Actually, the Hinchey we’re referencing here is Bruce, not Maurice. Bruce (no relation, we think) is president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, and today in the Casper Star-Tribune, he suggests that the anti-fracking bill moving through Congress right now would “create an added expense — an estimated $100,000 per well.” He says further:
“There’s been well over a million wells drilled and fracked, and not one problem of contamination of groundwater. There’s no need to put [hydraulic fracturing] under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Companies have already proven that not only are they regulated by the state, but they have proven that the process is safe and it works.”
Bruce’s long-lost cousin is Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), a vocal opponent of domestic production of traditional energy resources and chief cosponsor of legislation that aims to bring hydraulic fracturing to a standstill. But even though his legislation seeks to transfer authority currently possessed by states to regulate hydraulic fracturing over to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), don’t for one second think he’s an opponent of states’ rights. This little gem comes from a Hinchey speech on the floor of the US House during a debate last Congress:
“That is what they want to do, have the Federal Government step in here on top of the States, deny the States the right that they have under the Constitution to protect the health and safety and welfare of their citizens by passing legislation which preempts all of those State laws. This is a very bad idea and it must be defeated.”
Rep. Hinchey’s Democratic colleague, Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), told The Oklahoman today that the DeGette-Hinchey bill “would be disastrous.” Boren also said “hydraulic fracturing had been used in an estimated 1 million wells and had not posed any problems to drinking water.”
So why is Rep. Hinchey selectively supportive of states’ rights? If Mr. Hinchey believes legislation to deny states the ability to ‘protect the health and safety and welfare of their citizens‘ was ‘very bad,’ why the about face on the state regulated, environmentally sound production of clean-burning natural gas?
Continued>>
