House And Senate Bills Introduced To Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing

Companion bills were introduced on Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to repeal the hydraulic fracturing exemption currently contained in the Safe Drinking Water Act's Underground Injection Control (UIC) program. The bills would require EPA to regulate hydraulic fracturing under the UIC program, and would require companies to disclose the chemical constituents of their fracing fluid recipes to the relevant agency. EPA or the delegated state agency would then post the constituents on a website for the general public.

Background of Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation and the SDWA Exemption

Hydraulic fracturing is a well-established oil and gas recovery technique used for nearly a century to enhance production within certain geologic formations. A fluid mixture of water, sand and chemical constituents ("fracing fluid") is injected under high pressure into deep formations, creating fissures that release otherwise unobtainable oil and gas