U.S. Senate Holds Hearing on Natural Gas Drilling & Hydraulic Fracturing

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Federal regulation (MDN would argue federal “interference”) in regulating natural gas drilling is an important issue. MDN maintains that the U.S. Constitution grants the states the right to govern what happens inside their own borders, and that the federal government has too often usurped and trampled those rights in the name of protecting the public. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a prime example of a federal agency that frequently goes too far and oversteps its bounds. The EPA is an unelected group of people that create regulations with the force of law that are forced on states and businesses.

However, Congress seems to do what it wants to do, and agencies like the EPA are a reality we all must live with. So when Congress holds hearings and the star witness is the EPA and the topic is drilling in the Marcellus Shale and hydraulic fracturing, everyone, both for and against drilling, needs to pay attention.

Yesterday the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing titled “Natural Gas Drilling: Public Health and Environmental Impacts.” MDN believes there is much to learn in the opening statements by the Senators, and in the testimony from the witnesses who testified before the hearing.

Several other MDN articles posted today will highlight the hearing. Below are links to all of the resulting statements delivered at the hearing.


Full Committee and Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife joint hearing entitled, "Natural Gas Drilling: Public Health and Environmental Impacts.”

Tuesday, April 12, 2011
10:00 AM EDT
EPW Hearing Room – 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Majority Statements
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)

Minority Statements
James M. Inhofe (R-OK)

Panel 1

The Honorable Robert Perciasepe
Deputy Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency

Panel 2

Dr. Conrad Daniel Volz, DrPH, MPH
Director
Center for Healthy Environments & Communities

Mr. Jack Ubinger
Senior Vice President
Pennsylvania Environmental Council

Dr. Robert Summers, Ph.D.
Acting Secretary of the Environment
Maryland Department of the Environment

Mr. Jeff Cloud
Vice Chairman
Oklahoma Corporation Commission

Mr. David Neslin
Director
Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission

2 Comments

  1. “MDN maintains that the U.S. Constitution grants the states the right to govern what happens inside their own borders”.

    Umm, I guess that means when toxic waste enters a river, the waste will stop at the state line?

  2. Another prime example of corporate profits and fat-cats belittling the need for regulations. Who cares about the environment when you’re banking huge profits, right? LMAO