EPA’s "Fracking" Study: Potential Impacts On Marcellus Shale Development

Marcellus Shale Alert

On February 7, 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") released a "Draft Plan to Study the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources" ("Draft Plan" or "Study"). The Draft Plan was issued in direct response to the U.S. Congress' Appropriation Conference Committee's 2010 mandate that EPA study the relationship between hydraulic fracturing practices and drinking water resources.

In July 2004, EPA conducted a limited study on the effects of hydraulic fracturing in coalbed methane production on underground drinking water sources. EPA's 2004 study concluded that the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids posed little or no threat to groundwater sources. While the current Study focuses on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing in shale formations like the Marcellus Shale, the Draft Plan proposes research that will provide information on hydraulic fracturing used in several other methods