Congressman rails against more fracking regulations

One of this area's two U.S. congressmen presided over a subcommittee meeting last Wednesday regarding the regulatory approach of horizontal hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), which has become a major issue across the country including here in Athens County.

During the hearing, U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, reinforced his oft-stated skepticism about federal environmental regulations, by disputing concerns about fracking's negative effects on drinking water supplies.

Gibbs, of Lakeville, represents Ohio's 18^th Congressional District, which includes the northern portion of Athens County including Nelsonville. The first-term congressman chairs the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee.

Following the hearing, Gibbs released a statement saying that states' existing regulatory policies for fracking are sufficient, and that any further interference from the federal Environmental Protection Agency is unnecessary.

The EPA is currently reviewing regulations concerning fracking, with an eye toward developing national standards for disposing of wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing technique. The agency also is studying the widespread belief among environmentalists and local governments that fracking threatens drinking-water supplies. The agency plans to solicit and study input from a variety of sources, an EPA official told the subcommittee on Wednesday, and then issue a proposed rule in 2014.

In a news release issued after the hearing, Gibbs stated, "Today's hearing confirmed that the Clean Water Act is functioning as it was designed to with states adopting their own regulatory frameworks, allowing them to respond best to problems based on their own local geology and conditions."

During the hearing, several state regulatory officials, including Michael Krancer, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, testified against the federal government coming in and setting a one-size-fits-all standard for individual states. The states are "in the best position to respond to challenges based on local factors," Krancer told the subcommittee.

"Simply put, because of our long history of oil and gas development and comprehensive regulatory structure, Pennsylvania does not need federal intervention to ensure an appropriate balance between resources development and environmental protection is struck," Krancer reportedly stated. "Pennsylvania is already showing that the balance of environmental protection and the development of this world-class resources is being accomplished."

Pennsylvania, "ground zero" for the ongoing shale oil and gas boom, however, has served as a poster-child for negative environmental and quality of life consequences of fracking, with residents and environmentalists complaining about ruined water supplies, peaceful rural environments torn asunder by excessive noise and truck traffic, and a lack of effective enforcement by state regulators.

In his news release, Rep. Gibbs said that the hearing featured three different state regulators testifying how their states have effectively regulated fracking

"This state-centric regulatory approach is clearly working as there have been 1.2 million fracking operations and not a single incident of water contamination," Gibbs stated.

A local environmental opponent of horizontal hydraulic fracturing, however, strongly disputed Gibbs' statements on Thursday. "Mr. Gibbs' statements are inaccurate and dangerous," said Heather Cantino, who chairs the Buckeye Forest Council's board of directors. "The U.S. EPA and state authorities in Wyoming, Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania have documented widespread water contamination from deep shale drilling and fracturing operations. If the practice is as safe as Mr. Gibbs claims, why does it need to be exempted from regulations that govern all other industries? It's only industry exemptions from the Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Clean Air, and hazardous waste regulations that allow Mr. Gibbs to make such outlandish claims.

Cantino noted that "hazardous and radioactive fracking waste in Ohio" can be injected into Class 2 wells. These "are not up to hazardous waste standards," she added, "because the industry has succeeded in legally defining away the toxicity of the waste. The waste is still, of course, toxic and radioactive, exempted or not. No monitoring is done around Class 2 injection wells in Ohio."

Rep. Gibbs, on the other hand, said that the Clean Water Act's intention is for the U.S. EPA to "collaborate with states and facilitate their implementation of their regulatory standards, performing oversight when a problem arises.

"However," he added in the release, "as no problem has arisen from fracking, their (federal EPA's) involvement in this issue is just another attempt to pursue a radical, anti-drilling agenda. They are threatening America's, and especially Ohio's, economic future with more redundant, job-killing regulations that do nothing to enhance the protection of public health and the environment."

Gibbs cited positive economic impacts from expanded gas exploration.

"Not only is America getting a relatively cheap and less polluting source of energy, but the activity is generating thousands of jobs in the direct production, refinement and service sectors," he said.

The release from Gibbs' office also quoted Thomas Stewart, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association:

"The new and efficient development of natural gas from the resources shale plays is providing the American consumer an incredible energy bargain providing a fuel priced at 22 percent of its intrinsic energy value, a trend that the marketplace indicates will continue into the future," Stewart stated.

Cantino also disputed Stewart's statement.

"Mr. Stewart's statement is also false," she declared. "Natural gas is not clean. Cornell University scientists have documented that natural gas produces greater greenhouse gas emissions than coal. Methane, which leaks during production and transport, is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Emissions from trucks and diesel compressors involved in the transport of water, chemicals, waste, and the gas itself make total emissions significantly greater than coal's."

She disputed positive fracking studies done at the behest of the oil and gas industry. "Industry claims of economic benefit are based on poorly done, industry-funded studies," Cantino said. "More objective studies document that job creation is not only much lower than industry claims but also mostly short-term, poorly paid, and not based on local labor. Environmental degradation caused by fracking causes property values to plummet and leads to long-term destruction of tourism and local economies."

Not just local environmentalists have raised concerns about fracking in Athens County (none of which has actually occurred here yet). Officials for the city of Athens, Athens County and Ohio University all have raised formal objections to a plan to lease land in the Wayne National Forest for hydraulic fracturing operations. The officials expressed concerns about the negative impacts on the Hocking River and local water supplies.

The U.S. Forest Service subsequently withdraw its plan to auction off leases, pending more information on how fracking will affect the national forest.

Those pushing for greater federal involvement in fracking regulation have argued that many states have been gutting their regulatory regimes as a result of substantial budget-cutting and Republican administrations hostile to environmental regulation.