Subscribe to Blog ContentA House panel is looking into whether natural gas producers have injected toxic chemicals like benzene, toluene and xylene underground. The concern is that the toxic chemicals could taint public drinking water during the hydraulic fracturing oil drilling process, also known as fracking, that extracts natural gas from underground. The process injects huge amounts of water, sand and chemicals to crack the shale and release oil and natural gas.
Hydraulic Fracturing Concerns
Environmentalists and the House have concerns about underground leaking of fracturing fluids. They're also looking into aboveground water contamination caused by companies bringing the used fluids to the surface and storing them in ponds where fluid can leak.
The committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has sent a request to oilfield services companies for documentation regarding the chemicals they use in the mixture. The biggest concerns surround oil and gas drilling near aquifers in shallower wells. Waxman and the committee want see the risks on public health and the environment. "We must ensure that we are not creating new environmental and public health problems," says Waxman.
The panel has also sent an inquiry (opens a PDF file) to five small companies and three big companies including BJ Services, Halliburton and Schlumberger, the same companies that promised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) they would stop using diesel in the mixture in 2003. However, according to data from BJ Services and Halliburton provided to Congress shows they still used diesel in the fracturing process as of 2007.
A spokesperson from Halliburton says the diesel claim is not accurate. The company has explained that it doesn't use diesel in wells near aquifers or in liquid gel concentrates.
EPA Plans a Study
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson says that the agency will conduct a $1.8 million fracturing study. If the EPA's budget comes through, it plans to add several million more dollars into the study. "The [timing] of the study will depend on us being able to adjust our operating budget for the current fiscal year…What we’ve done is to try to fund the whole thing out of our budget this year and next year, but we would hope to start this year," says Jackson.
In the past, the EPA hired a consultant to review 12 cases of contamination. The result says the contamination "may have a possible link to hydraulic fracturing," but the study was inconclusive.
The House has been considering the implementing regulations for the drilling process. The committee knows that the cleaner-burning natural gas can be a big factor to a lower-carbon future, but it wants to make sure the public remains safe.
The eight firms needed to submit the requested documents by March 5, 2010. They're not required to comply with the voluntary request.
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