US EPA says fracking has no impact on drinking water supplies

WASHINGTON (ICIS)–Hydraulic fracturing has had no widespread, systemic impacts on US drinking water supplies, according to the draft report of a five-year study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued on Thursday.

Thomas Burke, EPA’s science advisor and deputy assistant administrator, said results of the comprehensive agency study of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and natural gas wells draw on “the most complete compilation of scientific data to date”.

He said that in reaching its conclusion, EPA reviewed more than “950 sources of information, published papers, numerous technical reports, information from stakeholders and peer-reviewed EPA scientific reports”.

Burke said the agency’s study examined the full range of fracking operations, including water acquisition, chemical mixing at the well pad site, well injection of fracking fluids, the collection of wastewater and wastewater treatment and disposal.

He said the review of available data and studies did find “specific instances where well integrity and wastewater management related to hydraulic fracturing activities impacted drinking water resources, but they were small compared to the large number of hydraulically fractured wells across the country”.

Fracking involves the high-pressure injection of water, sand and chemical additives into deep shale formations to break free oil and natural gas resources that previously could not be economically recovered.

Combined with directional drilling, fracking is credited with a major turnaround in US oil and gas production over the last 10 years. 

Newly abundant supplies of natural gas from shale formations have triggered a renaissance in US chemical production.

The EPA study was quickly hailed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which said that the agency’s results confirm what the oil and gas industry has known for years.

“Hydraulic fracturing has been used safely in over a million wells,” said API upstream director Erik Milito, “resulting in America’s rise as a global energy superpower, growth in energy investments, wages and new jobs.”

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) also welcomed the EPA study, saying that it builds on numerous other analyses done by the US Department of Energy, the US Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), among others.

IPAA spokeswoman Katie Brown said the EPA report “contradicts the most prevalent claim from anti-fracking activists, which have made ‘water contamination’ the very foundation of their campaign against hydraulic fracturing”.

EPA’s Burke said the agency’s study does include information about “potential vulnerabilities” for drinking water supplies, but that those “are not unique to hydraulic fracturing”.

API’s Milito said those remaining issues “have all been addressed by a wide array of strong state regulations, industry standards and federal laws”.

Paul Hodges studies key influences shaping the chemical industry in Chemicals and the Economy