By Thomas Cluderay, Assistant General Counsel

Polluted water resources. Compromised housing values. And now, earthquakes?

As companies increasingly rely on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to expand U.S. oil and gas operations, regulators are finally beginning to understand its potential impact on public health and the environment.

Over the past year, a dozen earthquakes have occurred in the Youngstown, Ohio, area, with magnitudes ranging from 2.1- to 4.0 on the Richter scale. Each one occurred less than a mile from a "Class II deep injection well," a cavity created to dispose of wastewater from drilling and fracking operations. This particular well is near an underlying fault. It began operation just three months prior to the first quake.

On March 9, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources announced that that a preliminary investigation had found "compelling" evidence of an association between the quakes and wastewater injections in the well. The department said it would develop more stringent regulations in hopes of heading off more seismic disturbances.

As the detailed report shows, we still have much to learn about the consequences of fracking and their potential costs. The Youngstown quakes may not be a fluke. Earthquakes possibly induced by drilling operations have been reported in Oklahoma, Arkansas, British Columbia and England.

EWG is urging regulators and policymakers to conduct extensive scientific research before giving the green light to fracking. The stakes are high for public health and the environment. We cannot afford to get this one wrong.

In some states, oil and gas companies have begun to face (gasp!) some basic regulations, such as required reporting of where and when they hydraulically fracture (or "frack") wells, and even disclosure of the chemicals they use. But in California, drillers can do whatever they please, wherever they please.

That's because the state agency in charge of regulating the industry, the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, is asleep at the wheel. Until recently, the Division, known as DOGGR for short, has essentially denied that fracking is taking place in California. But EWG's research shows that it's been going on since at least 1953.

In 2010, the division actually requested and received $3 million in its budget for the purpose of regulating, among other things, hydraulic fracturing. But - and here's the kicker - agency officials say that even with the money in hand, they won't write regulations on fracking until and unless the legislature orders it or until (this is my favorite part) there is "evidence of manifest damage or harm."

As someone who just moved to the Golden State, I don't find this comforting. Just ask residents of Dimock, Penn., whose water supply became contaminated after nearby drilling, if fracking should be regulated before or after "manifest damage."

In government-mandated filings, oil and gas companies admit that there are risks associated with fracking, including spills, explosions, environmental damage, injury and even death. And don't forget that fracking is a water-intensive process and has been associated with earthquakes in other places.

California residents deserve to know where and when fracking is happening. They also deserve the peace of mind of knowing that state regulators are watching to ensure that drillers use best practices and that ecosystems and human health are protected. DOGGR needs to find out where and how fracking is happening California and not wait until there is confirmed damage to resources or people.

By Leeann Brown, press secretary

New York is considering lifting its moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, an oil and gas drilling technology in which large volumes of water, sand and chemicals are injected into the ground at high pressure.

Drillers are hungrily eyeing the New York state portion of the Marcellus Shale, a vast, natural gas-rich formation that sweeps down the Appalachian chain from near the Canadian border to Kentucky. Before drilling begins, the state has proposed regulations to monitor fracturing, or fracking, which is mostly exempt from federal regulations under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

What's the problem, if drilling and fracking will be regulated? The regulations are weak. So weak that federal agencies, including the U.S. Geological Survey, have written to the N.Y. Department of Environmental Conservation highlighting their shortcomings and warning that natural gas exploitation could endanger private water wells, municipal aquifers and New York City's drinking water supply.

Regarded as impartial and authoritative on drilling issues, USGS has warned that New York state's "one-size-fits-all" approach to regulating drilling activity could fail to protect source water and natural geographic features.

The federal agency pointed out the state's lack of data on underground freshwater sources and underground faults. If drilling and hydraulic fracturing were permitted directly underneath faults, it said, contaminants could flow upward into underground aquifers.

The USGS is not the only federal agency with concerns over New York. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has separately warned the state's regulators that they are unprepared to regulate a boom in shale gas drilling. The EPA contends state technocrats have understated the severity of radioactive pollution associated with drilling and don't know how such contaminants would be disposed of.

The up side of drilling -- jobs and revenues, is modest. The down side, if anything goes wrong, is incalculable. So our question is - why chance it?

Image licensed to David F. Bacon under a Creative Commons license http://www.research.ibm.com/people/d/dfb/screensavers.html

Since George Washington crossed the Delaware in 1776, the river has become an iconic American image. Nearly 16 million people rely on the Delaware river for drinking water, and every year 5.4 million Americans swim, fish, camp, hike and explore its 330 miles of pristine, un-dammed water.

This Monday, the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware and representatives of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers will meet and vote on whether to allow gas drilling and exploration in this sensitive area.

Josh Fox, director of GASLAND and Delaware River Basin property owner calls the situation a crisis, and we couldn't agree more.

Please take a moment and help save the Delaware:

Live in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Delaware?
Contact your governor and tell him you oppose any regulations that would allow gas drilling in the basin.

Want to learn more?

By Elaine Shannon, EWG Editor-in-chief

Think fracking for natural gas means jobs?

Think again.

In a new assessment of fracking's potential and risks, the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation projects that if the natural gas industry is permitted to conduct hydraulic fracturing to exploit the state's gas-rich shale deposits, less than a quarter of the jobs would go to people who live in the state.

"A handful of jobs in the drilling industry could cost New Yorkers billions of dollars they don't have," Dusty Horwitt, senior counsel for the Environmental Working Group, testified before the New York City Council environmental protection committee today (Sept. 22, 2011). "That's why it is especially important for New York to proceed carefully."

After analyzing a 1,500-page environmental impact statement on fracking published earlier this month by the state environmental conservation agency, Horwitt said the state plan projects that New Yorkers would not fill 90 percent of local gas industry jobs until the 30 years after drilling begins.

In the meantime, he said, the risks of pollution are daunting. He said the state's plan for regulating fracking doesn't require a large enough buffer zone between drilling operations and water sources. Consequently, he said, the state cannot assure New Yorkers that drinking water supplies will be safe from pollution by fracking chemicals nor from methane released from gas pockets deep in the shale. As Josh Fox's Oscar-nominated film Gasland demonstrates, flammable methane freed from underground fissures can bubble into well water and turn a homeowner's faucet into a torch.

"If upstate drilling causes contamination, the state estimates that building a filtration plant to clean up New York City's drinking water is $8 billion AT MINIMUM," Horwitt testified. "The state does not guarantee that the city's water can, in fact, be cleaned at any cost. The state's revised environmental impact statement acknowledges as much, saying 'once polluted, it [is] very difficult and very expensive to return these water supplies back to their original condition'."

Horwitt pointed out that, according to published reports, the state's 14 inspectors now oversee about 1,000 active oil and gas wells. If high-volume hydraulic fracking is permitted, their workload will escalate by an anticipated 1,600 applications annually, or about 100 applications per inspector.

"These 14 overworked inspectors stand between New York City and a multi-billion-dollar disaster," Horwitt said.

He added that the industry's history of flouting the law calls for heightened vigilance. Earlier this year, he said, investigators for the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee reported that from 2005 to 2009, oil and gas drilling companies injected underground more than 32 million gallons of diesel fuel, or fluids containing diesel fuel, in hydraulic fracturing operations in 19 states. The investigators said those actions appeared to violate the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which requires permits for fracking with diesel because it contains carcinogenic benzene. Industry officials confirmed that they had done so but explained that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had failed to set up a permitting process.

"This record of willfully ignoring a federal law on a technicality shows that regulators will need to keep a close watch on the industry," Horwitt said. "We doubt that a handful of overworked state inspectors can scrutinize thousands of new drilling and fracturing operations as closely as they - and the public - would like."

By Alex Rindler, Government Affairs Assistant

When it comes to drilling in the Marcellus Shale, the natural gas industry leaves no stone unturned.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has reported that Huntley & Huntley, Inc., a self-described "God fearing" oil and gas company, has 11 cemeteries under lease in Washington and Allegheny Counties, including 200-acre Calvary Cemetery, where the remains of three of Pittsburgh's mayors now rest.

Even the most ardent (and well-paid) industry supporters have taken exception to this kind of urban energy exploitation.

"I'd have a tough time putting a rig down next to my tomb or next to anyone I'm related to," said Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania Governor and one-time consultant to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, whose president made headlines in April for admitting that the industry she represents was responsible for contaminating state drinking water supplies.

Meanwhile, a growing number of Americans have called for an end to the exemptions enjoyed by natural gas producers from major environmental laws that protect public health.

According to the state's Department of Environmental Protection, natural gas production has increased 60 percent in the past six months, due largely to a new method of gas extraction called high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing. There are more than 1,600 active Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania alone.

[Photo Credit to Katie Brady and Flickr]

By Alex Rindler, EWG Government Affairs Assistant

People across the country are rightly concerned about natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing near their homes. Thanks to new technologies, the exploitation of shale gas formations has expanded rapidly and now accounts for nearly 30 percent of U.S. natural gas production. As drilling rigs pop up near populous areas, the stakes have become enormous for millions of Americans.

Shale gas extraction can mean profits for energy companies, royalties for some landowners and jobs for some.

For communities, though, it can and does translate to unsightly rigs, truck traffic, air pollution, noise and up to millions of gallons of chemical-laced wastewater, water pollution, and reports of drilling related illnesses. Property values near some drilling operations are reported to be plummeting.

Fracking exempt from most U.S. environmental laws

In a draft report issued August 11, an advisory panel on shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing convened by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu seems to trivialize Americans' wariness of drillers' aggressive inroads. The panel, chaired by John Deutch, a board member of Cheniere Energy, was charged with recommending ways to make fracking safer for people and the environment. But its initial report seems more concerned with making recommendations to improve the industry's public relations messaging than anything else. It makes no mention of the real issue at hand: the fact that hydraulic fracturing enjoys seven exemptions from the nation's major environmental laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Chu-Deutch panel says the industry can undertake measures to "reduce the environmental impacts from shale gas production." Industry, the panel says, can engage in "managing short-term and cumulative impacts on communities, land use, wildlife, and ecologies."

Such pallid language seems to assume and accept a certain amount of environmental damage. In the panel's view, the only question seems to be, how much. That's no reassurance at all for people who see their air and water quality being degraded or who see the drilling industry encroaching on once pristine landscapes.

Gas country residents don't want to hear, Well, it could be worse.

Disclosure of fracking techniques and drilling chemicals, as the panel recommends, is a good thing. But it's not enough to know how bad things are. The point is to prevent bad things from happening.

The panel acknowledges that "adverse environmental impacts need to be prevented, reduced and, where possible, eliminated as soon as possible." It says that "effective action requires both strong regulation and a shale gas industry in which all participating companies are committed to continuous improvement. "

Do we have an industry committed to environmental protection? Apparently not, in the view of the Chu-Deutch panel, which suggests, in backhanded and tortuous fashion, that the gas industry, as currently configured, cannot be trusted. Let's decode this recommendation:

The Subcommittee believes the creation of a shale gas industry production organization dedicated to continuous improvement of best practice, defined as improvements in techniques and methods that rely on measurement and field experience, is needed to improve operational and environmental outcomes.

This passage is hardly a vote of confidence in the industry. If an engineer told you that a new house must be created where your house now stands, you'd run for the door before the roof fell in. Make a whole new structure? Now? The flaws in the existing one must be pretty severe. And if that engineer said the newly-created structure would, at best, "improve...outcomes," you'd have serious second thoughts about whether it would be worth rebuilding.

Energy Department panel dominated by oil and gas interests

The panel's words are oblique and cautious, not surprising, since Deutch and five of six other panel members have current financial ties to the oil and gas industry. These individuals have extensive experience in oil and gas. They also have a direct financial interest in seeing the industry emphasize profits over protecting communities. Their call for "strong regulation" has to be taken with more than a few grains of salt.

Let's not confuse this group of people who come from the oil and gas industry with a truly independent blue-ribbon panel. If the Department of Energy does not appear to take seriously the need for this panel to be - and to be perceived as - fair, balanced, objective and representative, then the millions of people who will be impacted by shale gas development cannot count on the federal government to protect them.

Panelist labels citizens' concerns "hysteria"

At a recent public meeting at the Department of Energy's Washington headquarters, panel member Mark Zobak dismissed criticisms of shale gas drilling as "hydro-frack hysteria." Zoback is a geophysics professor at Stanford University, but that's not all. He is also a founder of GeoMechanics International, a consulting firm that advises on various oil and gas drilling problems. Baker Hughes, Inc., a $33.5 billion Houston-based oilfield services company engaged in hydraulic fracturing, acquired GeoMechanics International in 2008. As a senior advisor to Baker Hughes, Zoback can afford to be optimistic about the impact of shale gas drilling.

If the pace of natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing is to accelerate, as the energy industry and the Obama administration hope, the question is how to achieve the highest standards of safety. Balancing America's appetite for energy with people's rights to live in safety and peace is a tough challenge - and too important to be left to a favored few special interests.

Stay up to date about what EWG is doing about gas drilling and fracking.