EPA Statement at Senate Hearing Outlines the Main Arguments Against Drilling

The first witness before the April 12 Senate hearing on natural gas drilling was Robert Perciasepe, Deputy Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA is currently conducting a multi-year study of the 60 year-old practice of hydraulic fracturing on the basis and claim that it may be harmful to water supplies, and since protection of the nation’s waterways has been assumed by the EPA, hydraulic fracturing (if found to be harmful) would come under the EPA’s jurisdiction and regulation. It is a back door way for the EPA to control natural gas drilling in this country.

The following is a small portion of Mr. Perciasepe’s statement before the hearing. MDN highlights it as an excellent summary of the main arguments that come from those who oppose drilling in the Marcellus Shale and other shale gas plays.

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