New Congressional Inquiries On Hydraulic Fracturing

摘要

Congressional concern about "fracing" took another step forward when the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to eight companies asking for details on the chemicals they use during horizontal drilling of shale gas deposits. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the committee, implied in a memorandum to committee members explaining the need for the letters that the "Big Three" of fracing may have violated a voluntary memorandum of agreement (MOA) they signed with the Environmental Protection Agency in 2005. That MOA obligated them to forswear use of diesel fuel in hydraulic fracturing fluids injected into coal bed methane production wells in underground sources of drinking water. The three companies are Halliburton, BJ Services and Schlumberger. The MOA did not extend to natural gas production. Waxman claimed BJ Services already admitted a violation.