Fracking Operations Prompt Environmental Groups to Threaten to Sue EPA
Several environmental groups on Aug. 26 called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to prohibit oil and gas firms from dumping hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” chemicals in ways that could prove harmful to the public and communities.
The groups, which include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthworks, the Responsible Drilling Alliance and the Environmental Integrity Project, alerted EPA of their intention to file a lawsuit in 60 days if the agency does not review and revise regulations governing how fracking chemicals linked to oil and gas are handled and disposed.
The agency is required to proceed with such a review at least every three years under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
“We’re asking that EPA finally do what it found to be necessary back in 1988 … the oil and gas industry has grown rapidly since then, and yet EPA has repeatedly shirked its duties for nearly three decades,” said Adam Kron, an attorney with the Environmental Integrity Group.
Laura Allen, EPA deputy press secretary, said the agency will review the notice of intent and any related information submitted to the agency.
The groups cited six regions where they say improper disposal and handling of fracking and drilling substances is happening, notably the Marcellus shale formation in the Northeast.
Key oil and trucking industry executives have indicated their sectors have benefited from a boom in American production of oil and gas due to fracking.
