The Environmental Protection Agency announced today it had found no evidence that the hydraulic fracturing process responsible for unlocking vast stores of oil and gas nationwide has caused “widespread systemic impacts on drinking water.”
But “there are potential vulnerabilities,” the agency warns, as it released a long-awaited, congressionally directed assessment of how drinking water supplies could be affected by the technique used to stimulate oil and gas production at wells across the United States.
As FuelFix.com reports, the five-year probe documented some cases where waste water was spilled above ground and the integrity of wells themselves may have caused problems. But in releasing its draft assessment today, the EPA said those instances were relatively infrequent, given the extent of hydraulic fracturing nationwide.
“There are recognized instances where fracking-related activities related to releases that have impacted surface and groundwater,” says EPA science adviser Thomas Burke. “The number of documented impacts to drinking water resources is relatively small when compared to the number of fractured wells.”
Burke stressed “the study was not—nor was it intended to be—a numerical catalogue of all episodes of contamination.”
“This is a study of how we can best protect our water resources,” he told reporters on a conference call. “It’s not a question of safe or unsafe. It’s a question of understanding the vulnerabilities so we can … reduce those risks and protect our water resources.”
Industry leaders are celebrating the report’s release as a vindication of hydraulic fracturing, which involves pumping sand, water and chemicals underground to open the pores of oil- and gas-bearing rock, allowing those hydrocarbons to flow out. Not surprisingly, environmentalists are taking a starkly different view, noting that EPA’s draft results show evidence of pollution in the past and highlight ongoing risks.
