A Summary of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Multiyear Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources

摘要

In December 2016, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) published the findings of their multiyear study entitled, "Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources in the United States." EPA's final report (with contributing studies) totals over a thousand pages, and sparked controversy during the assessment, after the release of their draft 2015 report and the final document. This paper provides a summary of the EPA study effort and processes, and highlights key finding and limitations of the work.