EPA is arguing in a new legal brief that an industry lawsuit over the agency's ability to regulate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, activities using diesel under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is without jurisdictional basis because the agency's authority stems from Congress and therefore falls short of the legal standard for a final agency action. The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the U.S. Oil & Gas Association sued EPA Jan. 11, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to quash novel policy statements the agency posted on its website in summer of 2010 indicating it considered fracking operations that use diesel fuel in the fracturing fluid to be subject to SDWA underground injection control (UIC) permitting requirements for Class II wells.
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