After Delay, EPA Issues Diesel Fracking Guidance

Nearly four years in the making, the Environmental Protection Agency's guidance on the use of diesel fuels in hydraulic fracturing finally hit the streets this week, prompting praise from environmentalists but concern from industry analysts who fear the guidance is a prelude to agency enforcement for past failures to obtain permits.

Formally titled Permitting Guidance for Oil and Gas Hydraulic Fracturing Activities Using Diesel Fuels: Underground Injection Control Program Guidance #84, the guidance provides direction to EPA regional permit writers in the few states – and for most tribal lands – where the EPA directly implements the Safe Drinking Water Act's (SDWA's) Underground Injection Control (UIC) program for Class II hydrocarbon injection wells. While SDWA generally exempts hydraulic fracturing from UIC regulation, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 made an exception for hydraulic fracturing with "diesel fuels."