Energy in Depth Issue Alert: Rep. Hinchey, EPA Administrator Jackson, HF, SDWA
On Tuesday, May 19, the office of U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) issued a press release subsequent to a hearing of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee suggesting the congressman had gotten EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to “acknowledge” the need for her agency “to reexamine the Bush administration’s misguided views on the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing.”
Context
In 2005, Congress passed (with the vote of then-Sen. Barack Obama) the Energy Policy Act, a key provision of which sought to clarify Congress’s historical intent on whether the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) of 1974 was ever designed to regulate hydraulic fracturing.
The answer was no, and in this case, history proved an effective guide: When SDWA was passed in 1974, hydraulic fracturing had already been in use for 25 years. Hydraulic fracturing was never considered for inclusion under SDWA jurisdiction at the time. The Act was amended in 1986, and then again in 1996. At no point in the process was the concept of SDWA regulation over fracturing ever considered a necessity – or even a possibility.
Subtext
Hydraulic fracturing is a commonly used, and increasingly critical, technology for finding and developing oil and gas resources trapped below rock that would otherwise be too deep, too hard and too expensive to access. The technique has been deployed more than a million times over the past 60 years, delivering to the American people more than 600 trillion cubic feet of American natural gas and seven billions barrels of American oil.
In 2008, a report issued by professors from Pennsylvania and New York suggested that the Marcellus Shale formation, a unit of sedimentary rock spread across much of the Appalachian Basin, could contain 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – enough to heat more than 60 million homes for 160 years. Without hydraulic fracturing, these resources cannot be feasibly or economically produced.
Politics
Those who oppose the responsible development of American energy have seized on hydraulic fracturing as a means of blocking reasonable access to, and production of, domestic energy resources. The centerpiece of their campaign appears to be focused on blaming hydraulic fracturing for everything from exploding houses in Ohio, to flammable water in Colorado, to hard water deposits in New York (each of these accusations, and others, are debunked here).
Despite these claims, hydraulic fracturing continues to be aggressively regulated by the states, and has compiled an unparalleled record of safety over the 60 years since its first commercial use.
Economic Impacts
More recently, legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Hinchey has sought to destroy this existing state-federal regulatory partnership in favor of an EPA-only approach. Were this and other restrictive regulatory measures to come to pass, a recent analysis showed it could result in the forced closure of more than half of America’s oil wells, a third of its gas wells, cost the federal government $4 billion in lost revenue, slash American oil production by 183,000 barrels per day, and natural gas by 245 billion cubic feet per year.
EPA on Record
In 1995, then-EPA administrator Carol Browner (currently the president’s energy and environment czar) wrote that that her agency saw “no evidence” that hydraulic fracturing “has resulted in any contamination or endangerment of underground sources of drinking water (USDW).”
“Moreover,” she added, “given the horizontal and vertical distance between the drinking water well and the closest gas production wells, the possibility of contamination or endangerment of USDWs in the area is extremely remote.”
In 2004, EPA issued a landmark report examining the question of safety as it relates to hydraulic fracturing, finding “the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids” poses “minimal threat to USDWs.” In arriving at that conclusion, EPA stated it had “reviewed more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, other research, and public comments.”
States on Record
Recognizing that hydraulic fracturing is both a safe technology and a key driver of local economic development, states such as Alabama, Louisiana, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Texas have recently taken up or passed resolutions informing Congress and EPA that the current regulatory relationship is working well, and that efforts to disrupt it could produce serious and long-term consequences.
In New Mexico, former U.S. Energy Secretary and current Governor Bill Richardson introduced a plan in February aimed at easing unnecessary compliance burdens, recognizing that thousands of jobs and millions in potential revenue were tied to safe, responsible, state-regulated natural gas and oil production.
Statement from Lee Fuller, policy director for Energy In Depth
“Those familiar with the history surrounding the passage and amendment of the Safe Drinking Water Act understand what this measure was intended to do, and what it clearly was not. Unfortunately, instead of taking on the issue of responsible energy development candidly and on its merits, opponents of natural resource development have decided to target the essential tools needed to safely and efficiently bring this energy to market.”
Natural Gas Production Brings Jobs, Growth and Revenue to Northwest Louisiana
Sometimes numbers help put things in perspective. A new report prepared for the Louisiana Natural Resources Department, “Economic Impact of the Haynesville Shale on the Louisiana Economy in 2008,” found that energy development in Northwest Louisiana is having providing some pretty serious economic growth.
The Shreveport Times reports the study found that as a result of those activities:
- About $2.4 billion in business sales have been created in the state;
- Nearly $3.9 billion in household earnings were created, including almost $3.2 billion in lease and royalty payments to private landowners. The figure represents about 70 percent of the total expenditures associated with extraction activity in northwest Louisiana natural gas formation and is mostly in the form of mineral lease and royalty payments.
- About 32,742 jobs were created, equal to slightly more than the total employment of all of Louisiana’s banks and credit unions.
- State and local sales tax revenue increased by at least $153.3 million, with Red River Parish reporting tax collections up 300 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle said: the “study indicates that the Haynesville Shale may be every bit the game changer for our state that we all hoped it might be…I think we are entering the golden age of natural gas. And Louisiana has the opportunity to take the lead in supplying it and showing the rest of the nation how to make the best use of it.”
The article goes on to say that the Haynesville Shale play has “somewhat insulated the local economy from the national doldrums.”
Other states-New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, to name a few-have vast natural gas resources, just like Louisiana. In the coming years, they have the chance to experience the same benefits of the folks in the Bayou State.
Potential Hydraulic Fracturing Legislation Now Has a Sponsor
Rumors are circling around Washington that an amendment seeking to give EPA authority over the regulation of hydraulic fracturing will soon be added to massive climate change legislation sponsored by Congressman Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. It appears the amendment’s author will be Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado, who sponsored similar legislation in the last Congress (H.R. 7231).
The Colorado Independent reports:
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette is leading the charge to increase federal oversight of the nation’s natural gas industry, reintroducing a bill that specifically targets a process called hydraulic fracturing.
DeGette and hydraulic fracturing detractors claim the practice harms the environment and is damaging to public health. But Energy in Depth readers (and the EPA) know that’s not the case-and that states already effectively regulate hydraulic fracturing.
The fluids used in the process are more than 95 percent water, and fracturing activities take place thousands of feet below the water table. What’s more, extensive precautions are taken to case wells near the surface to prevent any leakage of fracturing fluid, oil or natural gas.
And while the Independent refers to highlighting the economic consequences of eliminating this safe engineering practice as an industry “tactic,” we’re sure the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose jobs rely on hydraulic fracturing might think differently.
Here are the facts:
- Hydraulic fracturing is responsible for 30 percent of our domestic recoverable oil and natural gas, and has aided in the extraction of more than seven billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
- Up to 90 percent of the wells currently operating today have been fraced, and in the future, 60 to 80 percent of new wells may have to undergo fracturing in order to remain viable.
- In 2007, $226 billion was invested in domestic exploration and production. Those investments drive economic growth, support local businesses and keep Americans working. Royalties paid by producers totaled $30 billion in 2007, and billions were paid to federal and local governments in the form of severance and income taxes.
- Hydraulic fracturing accounts for a significant portion of the total economic activity attributable to domestic energy production. More than 300,000 Americans are employed in the exploration and production of domestic oil and natural gas.
What’s more, regulating hydraulic fracturing out of existence would have disastrous economic consequences, including the loss of thousands of jobs, billions in government revenue and the closure of 150,000 natural gas wells.
America can’t afford to unnecessarily curb domestic energy production and destroy jobs-and the DeGette amendment would do just that.
