October 21,
2011|By Neela
Banerjee, Washington Bureau
Reporting from Washington — The Environmental Protection
Agency said it planned to regulate wastewater discharged by
companies producing natural gas from shale formations, including
chemically laced water used in a controversial extraction
process known as hydraulic fracturing.
The EPA's initiative comes as water-intensive natural gas
production has spread around the country, raising concerns about
the effects on drinking-water supplies. The practice, also known
as fracking, involves shooting water infused with chemicals and
sand at high pressure into shale formations to unlock reservoirs
of natural gas.
The EPA will try to determine what to do with water used during
fracking, as well as water that is already underground and flows
back up the well. Companies now often release the water from the
production process into municipal wastewater systems. Those
treatment facilities lack the technology to completely remove the
chemicals, salt and minerals in the wastewater before sending it
into streams and other surface water, said Ben Grumbles, president
of Clean Water America Alliance, an association of municipal water
districts and private industry.
Barraged with accusations from some congressional Republicans
that EPA regulations kill jobs, the agency was careful to say that
the new rules were not meant to crimp natural gas production.
"The president has made clear that natural gas has a central role
to play in our energy economy," said EPA Administrator Lisa P.
Jackson. "We can protect the health of American families and
communities at the same time we ensure access to all of the
important resources that make up our energy economy."
Barry Russell, president of the Independent Petroleum Assn. of
America, a trade group, cautiously welcomed the EPA's plans. "The
new guidelines EPA develops will then be used by states to regulate
specific wastewater discharges," he said in an email. "We stand
ready to work with EPA and other stakeholders on the development of
these guidelines."
Environmentalists also backed Thursday's announcement. The
environmental law group Earthjustice said in a statement: "The
nation is in the midst of a fracking-fueled gas rush which is
generating toxic wastewater faster than treatment plants can handle
it. The EPA's proposal is a common-sense solution for this growing
public health problem and will help keep poisons out of our rivers,
streams, and drinking water."
The EPA said it would propose rules for wastewater from shale gas
production in 2014; it expected to propose similar rules for
wastewater from coal-bed methane production in 2013.
On behalf of 63 environmental groups, Earthjustice sent the EPA a
letter in early 2010 urging it to expand a study of wastewater from
coal-bed methane production to also include water associated with
shale gas production.
Shale gas production accounts for 15% of U.S. natural gas output,
after beginning at "negligible" levels a few years ago, the EPA said
in its statement. While the shale gas boom has created jobs, it has
also had an impact on water that is not yet fully understood, the
EPA said.
As wastewater from shale gas and coal-bed methane production is
regulated, companies will probably have to process and reuse the
water, injecting it again into the well to nudge the gas out,
Grumbles said.
Once the water can no longer be used, it could potentially be
injected into regulated, deep underground storage wells. This year,
the state of Pennsylvania, home to a shale gas boom, mandated that
companies recycle their wastewater rather than send it through
municipal treatment plants, Grumbles said.
Copyright 2011 Los Angeles Times
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