Energy In Depth Statement on EPA's Announcement to Commence Study on the Safe, Responsible Use of Hydraulic Fracturing

EID: "We are hopeful and it is our expectation that this study – if based on objective, scientific analysis – will serve as an opportunity to highlight the host of steps taken at every wellsite that make certain groundwater is properly protected."

WASHINGTON, March 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will begin a new, comprehensive study on hydraulic fracturing, the critical and heavily regulated 60-year old technology used to stimulate energy production in 9 out of 10 wells throughout the United States. Following the announcement, Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, released this statement:

"We are hopeful and it is our expectation that this study – if based on objective, scientific analysis – will serve as an opportunity to highlight the host of steps taken at every wellsite that make certain groundwater is properly protected. The energy industry, as well as state regulatory agencies, are eager to work with EPA throughout this fact-based examination. Further, efforts underway in Congress to give EPA outright authority to regulate fracturing – which could hamper domestic energy production and job growth – should come to a standstill until this study is completed.

"Adding another study to the impressive list of those that have already been conducted and completed is a welcome exercise. Hydraulic fracturing is one of the U.S. oil and gas industry's crowning achievements, enabling us to produce energy supplies at enormous depths with surgical precision and unrivaled environmental safety records. And, simply put, new innovations are making these technologies better and better by the day – a fact widely recognized by the agencies that regulate hydraulic fracturing in energy-producing states.

"Fracturing has a long and clear record of safely leveraging otherwise unreachable homegrown, clean-burning, job-creating energy reserves. Today, the responsible development of America's shale gas resources represents a crucial turning point for our nation's long-term energy security. Hydraulic fracturing is the tool that can safely make this possible, and can continue to help lead us on a path toward stronger energy independence and economic competitiveness."

SOURCE Energy In Depth