WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement today after release of the draft Ninety-Day Report from the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) Shale Gas Production Subcommittee in the Department of Energy. Among the recommendations included in the report are disclosure of all chemicals used for fracking at each well; using a life-cycle approach to managing and tracking water and wastewater; extensive testing, monitoring, and disclosure of air pollution associated with gas development; reduction in diesel use; improving communication among state and federal regulators; and further study of the climate change impacts posed by natural gas development.
 
“This report identifies major gaps in how state and federal regulators have been managing the development of shale gas and demonstrates the need for significant and systematic improvements in drilling practices by the natural gas industry before the promise of plentiful domestic natural gas development can be fully assured to be consistent with the standards needed to protect public health and the environment.  I commend the Subcommittee for looking beyond just the practice of hydraulic fracturing and noting the need for necessary changes to managing water use and disposal, well design, drilling, cementing and well integrity practices.  These are concerns I previously have raised with Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior, and I am pleased that the Subcommittee has also focused attention on the need for improvements in these areas.”
 
A copy of Rep. Markey’s letter to the EPA on fracking oversight can be found HERE .
 
A copy of Rep. Markey’s letter with Rep. Holt to Department of Interior on fracking on public lands can be found HERE .
 
A copy of Rep. Markey’s letter with Rep. Holt to EPA urging a robust fracking study can be found HERE .
 
A copy of Rep. Markey’s letter with Reps. Waxman and DeGette to the EPA on an Energy and Commerce Committee investigation that found diesel in hydrofracking fluids can be found HERE .
 
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