(MintPress) – Representatives Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) proposed groundbreaking legislation this week, requiring oil and gas companies to adhere to previous environmental regulations outlined in the Clean Air and Water Act.
Closing controversial loopholes would provide the public with a more transparent process that would force oil and gas companies to adhere to basic federal environmental guidelines when engaging in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”
The bill faces an uphill battle because of the extensive lobbying efforts undertaken by dozens of oil and gas companies — spending roughly $139 million on donations to Congress and President Obama in 2012.
Requiring transparency
The announcement by the two Congressmen was hailed by environmental groups as an important step forward in the fight to hold oil and gas companies accountable. Earthworks, an anti-fracking organization, has expressed robust support for the measure that could end oil companies’ ability to operate outside the guidelines of the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Water Act 1972.
Passed during the Nixon administration, these laws have formed the backbone of federal oversight designed to regulate industry by ensuring basic environmental protections.
“Earthworks salutes Representatives Jared Polis and Matt Cartwright for introducing the BREATHE and FRESHER acts today, legislation that would help protect public health by closing loopholes in federal environmental oversight of the oil and gas industry,” announced the environmental organization this week.
Earthworks, an environmental organization, joins a bevy of faith-based and activist groups in opposition to the method of oil/gas drilling already widely used in the Midwestern United States
The BREATHE act would protect communities by requiring oil and gas drilling and fracking to follow the same rules as other industries.
Similarly, The FRESHER act would eliminate a threat to rivers and streams by closing a Clean Water Act loophole that exempts oil and gas companies from managing stormwater runoff, a basic rule that every homeowner in America is required to follow.”
The 2005 Energy Bill contains a controversial exemption for oil and gas companies granting oil and gas corporations exemptions to the Clean Air and Water Acts. The loophole, referred to as the “Halliburton loophole,” was included in the bill at the behest of then-Vice President Dick Cheney.
Exemptions to the Clean Air and Water Act
The bill is likely to be met with vociferous resistance from oil and gas company executives forced to submit to the same regulations as other industries. Fracking fluid, a mixture of water, sand and roughly 500 chemicals, including known carcinogens, has been used as part of the process of gas drilling already in place across Utah, Wyoming, Texas and North Dakota.
“Fracking fluid,” the mixture used in fracking wells, can contain 29 chemicals that are known carcinogens damaging to human health.
This point is confirmed by a scientific investigation published in April 2011 by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee On Energy and Commerce, stating:
“The oil and gas service companies used hydraulic fracturing products containing 29 chemicals that are (1) known or possible human carcinogens, (2) regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act for their risks to human health or (3) listed as hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. These 29 chemicals were components of 652 different products used in hydraulic fracturing.”
Given the sluggish economic recovery, many have supported fracking for the abundance of jobs it creates. In states like North Dakota, fracking has led to rapid job creation and a record low 3.2 percent unemployment rate according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, the lowest of any state.
Despite the ongoing concerns expressed by environmental organizations, public opinion remains firmly behind fracking. According to a Rasmussen poll released March 2012, 57 percent of American respondents favor the use of hydraulic fracturing to find more oil and gas.
In New York, a fracking battleground, people remain split evenly on the prospect of fracking. A Siena Research Institute poll released last month finds voters statewide are split, 40 percent in favor of fracking, and 40 percent opposed. The remaining 20 percent of respondents held no opinion.
Earlier this month, the New York State Assembly passed a two-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing delaying drilling at least until May 2015. The 95-40 vote was prompted by delays in independent health and environmental studies that are expected to play a pivotal role in any fracking decision in New York.