Disclose fracking dangers, federal panel urges
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Natural gas companies should be required to disclose all chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, according to a Department of Energy report released today that criticizes the industry for failing to fully examine the possible environmental effects of drilling.
The hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, process used to extract natural gas employs a controversial formula of chemicals that drillers have said must remain protected for competitive reasons.
But "[T]he barrier to shield chemicals based on trade secret should be set very high," said the report by the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Shale Gas Production Subcommittee.
Fracking fluid leakage into drinking water sources remains a "remote" risk, the panel said, but "progress needs to be accelerated in light of public concern."
PG PDFPublic concern over drinking water contamination, air pollution and foggy information take precedent in the report, compiled after the panel completed a 90-day listening tour that included a raucous public meeting in Washington, Pa.
The committee, reporting to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and President Barack Obama, examined best practices in shale plays across the country, including the Marcellus Shale that underlies much of Appalachia.
Prior to the report's release, critics called the panel a sham, saying the members' numerous ties to industry made a pro-drilling stance a foregone conclusion. But the 41-page report repeatedly calls out an industry the officials say hasn't explained itself or its impacts well.
Concerns over increased air pollution around a well site -- particularly an increase in methane levels -- led the committee to recommend further examination into a May 2011 study that found higher concentrations of methane in water around production sites in northern Pennsylvania.
The cited study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, found "systematic evidence for methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale gas extraction" around Susquehanna County.
"There's an awful lot we don't know about methane emissions from the entire shale gas production process," said Kathleen McGinty, a member of the panel and the former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
First Published August 11, 2011 12:00 am
