Earth Friendly Shopping

Occasionally, the good guys win one.

We have talked before about the danger to our water supply  posed by the natural gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracture.   In this process a mixture of sand, water, and chemicals are injected deep into the ground at high pressure, fracturing the rock and releasing  natural gas.

There are several problems with the process.  Many of the chemicals used are highly toxic. The companies performing the fractures consider the mixture proprietary, so we can’t even be sure what they using.  Then, to compound the problem, Dick Cheney inserted the “Haliburton Loophole” into the 2005 energy bill  exempting this process from EPA regulation.

In June, we noted that 2 members of congress,   Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado and Maurice Hinchey of New York were planning to reintroduce a bill to repeal the ban on regulating hydraulic fracture.

Tonight the NY Times reports progress in the battle:

Thanks in part to two New Yorkers — Representative Maurice Hinchey and Senator Charles Schumer — Congress last week approved a bill that asks the E.P.A. to conduct a new study on the risks of hydraulic fracturing. An agency study in 2004 whitewashed the industry and was dismissed by experts as superficial and politically motivated. This time Congress is demanding “a transparent, peer-reviewed process.”

We hope that this is the first step in restoring regulatory oversight.  As the Times correctly notes

(the indudstry) argues that the process is basically safe and that regulating it would deter domestic production. But if hydraulic fracturing is as safe as the industry says it is, why should it fear regulation?

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