Pennsylvania

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EPA Chief Says Feds Won’t Let Fracking “Screw Up” Ground Water

November 28, 2011 | 6:18 PM
By Susan Phillips

Chip Somod­ev­illa / Getty Images

EPA Admin­is­tra­tor Lisa Jack­son (L) tes­ti­fies at a Con­gres­sional hear­ing in May, 2011.

Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency Admin­is­tra­tor Lisa Jack­son says the ben­e­fits of nat­ural gas devel­op­ment should not out­weigh envi­ron­men­tal risks. Jack­son appeared on MSNBC’s Rachel Mad­dow Show last week. Mad­dow asked Jack­son whether the shale gas drilling needed more reg­u­la­tions, and if so, whether the EPA could han­dle the enforce­ment. Jack­son acknowl­edged the imme­di­ate envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fits of nat­ural gas over coal-fired power plants.

But when it comes to the drilling process, Jack­son says, “we’re not going to screw up your drink­ing water and ground water.”

Jack­son also said there needs to be “stan­dards” in the rules for state’s cur­rently reg­u­lat­ing frack­ing. The EPA and the Penn­syl­va­nia Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion have been at odds over reg­u­lat­ing shale gas drilling. And nat­ural gas drilling is cur­rently exempt from sev­eral fed­eral statutes includ­ing the Clean Air Act, and the Safe Drink­ing Water Act. As the EPA con­ducts its own study of frack­ing on drink­ing water sup­plies, states like Penn­syl­va­nia, New York and West Vir­ginia are work­ing to update their own rules. DEP Sec­re­tary Michael Krancer recently tes­ti­fied at a Con­gres­sional hear­ing that states are bet­ter equipped to reg­u­late frack­ing. For Maddow’s full inter­view with Lisa Jack­son, click here.

Comments

  • http://twitter.com/MsCalin Miss Calin

    MICHAEL KRANCER was paid by Cabot oil and gas 500 thou­sand dol­lars to look the other way on a water aquifer that has been POISONED in DIMOCK PA the DEP has tests SHOWING for the PAST 3 YEARS that the res­i­dents well water has ther­mo­genic gas and many many frack chem­i­cals in it , since the DEP set­tled a back door deal with Cabot with no agree­ment by the res­i­dents or their attor­neys , since this 500 k arrived the DEP HAS NOT EVEN BEEN OUT TO TEST THESE WELLS and TOMORROW the res­i­dents TEMPORARY ( three years mind you ) water deliv­er­ies to water buf­fa­los (for live­stock use only ) for these res­i­dents who will not accept the escro pay off money , at a water deliv­ery bill of  $ 36,400 cur­rently 100 bucks a day to deliver water who in their right mind would “SETTLE ” for this . SEC KRANCER should be help account­able to the CITIZENS he works for NOT the gas com­pa­nies  who pay him the most to look the other way !  cur­rently almost 100 Brad­ford County res­i­dents are on “tem­po­rary replace­ment water ” and @ 30 fam­i­lies in Susque­hanna county get daily deliv­er­ies also . The wells in Dimock are test­ing cur­rently at @ 20 % METHANE ! this is a crime and the EPA AND DEP  are in cahoots with the indus­try tout­ing no prob­lems as they buy off des­per­ate landown­ers and tout no proven cases of con­t­a­m­i­na­tion . Lisa Jack­son should put on A PAIR OF boots and hit the land where drilling is hap­pen­ing and talk to the folks with no potable water , com­pres­sor sta­tions run­ning 24 –7 , poi­soned farm ani­mals who refuse to drink the well water and the OCCUPATION tak­ing place in GOOD OLE USA by gas com­pa­nies who have no regard for any­thing but the almighty dol­lar and GREED at the cost of lives , homes , air , soil , farm goods , and our future gen­er­a­tions . Those put in office to pro­tect us are doing noth­ing but looikng the other way ESPECIALLY GOVERNOR CORBETT . 

  • mmcfee­ley

    Pre­sum­ably you mean: “Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency Admin­is­tra­tor Lisa Jack­son says the envi­ron­men­tal risks of nat­ural gas devel­op­ment should not out­weigh the benefits.”

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