EPA Reverses Course, No Longer Says Fracking Does Not Cause Widespread Water Contamination

Source: Inside Climate News

EPA Reverses Course, No Longer Says Fracking Does Not Cause Widespread Water Contamination

In final report, the agency strikes its previous conclusion that water
pollution is not systemic to the fracking process. Reversal angers the
oil and gas industry.

BY NEELA BANERJEE
DEC 13, 2016

In a significant reversal, the Environmental Protection Agency struck from a major 2015 report its conclusion that fracking has not caused "widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water" in the United States. The agency cited the lack of data and evidence to support the finding.

The change was made after an EPA panel of independent scientists recommended in August that the agency revise the statement, which had minimized the potential hazards posed to drinking water. The panel, known as the Science Advisory Board (SAB), spent a year analyzing the draft version of the study.

In a call with reporters, Thomas A. Burke, the EPA's deputy assistant administrator and science adviser, said the SAB's analysis was central to the change.

"The Science Advisory Board recommended that EPA quantitatively support this conclusion" that fracking did not pose a threat to drinking water, Burke said. "Significant data gaps and uncertainties limited our ability to estimate the national frequency of impacts. Consequently, EPA scientists concluded that the sentence could not be quantitatively supported."

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