DOE seeks advice on environmental improvements to fracking

The discovery of large quantities of natural gas and oil in shale deposits in the US Mid-West and North-East that is accessible through a technique called fracking (hydraulic fracturing) is creating a new energy boom. The deposits are large enough to provide US energy needs for two years according to the US Geological Survey. However, fracking involves pumping water and other compounds into the ground at high pressure to ‘squeeze’ the oil and gas out of the shale. This in turn, is worrying local residents, particularly in Pennsylvania, that the ground water could be contaminated with oil byproducts or the compounds used to extract the oil.

To make sure that the best practices are followed by the industry, Energy Secretary Steven Chu has appointed a committee to recommend environmental and safety improvements for fracking. The seven-member panel consists of environmental, industry and state regulatory experts and is chaired by MIT chemist and former CIA director John Deutch. Within 90 days the committee will submit its recommendations on any immediate steps that could be taken, Chu set a six-month deadline for delivery of separate advice for federal regulatory agencies.

Other members of the committee include former Clinton administration officials Kathleen McGinty, who chaired the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Susan Tierney, former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Energy. Others are global energy analyst and Pulitzer-prize winning author Daniel Yergin, Stanford University geophysicist Mark Zoback, Texas A&M University petroleum engineer Stephen Holditch, and Environmental Defense Fund president Fred Krupp. The panel was established as a subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, although only Deutch, Tierney, and Yergin are members of the full SEAB.

Announcement of the panel’s formation drew criticism from some lawmakers who believe the gas exploration business is already sufficiently regulated. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, accused the Department of Energy of “piling on” in getting involved with an issue that is already overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. Noting that fracking has been used in gas extraction for more than 60 years, Upton complained in a statement that “adding another study to the mix will do little to prove anything and only serve to waste more government resources.”

David Kramer