On July 24, 2013 the House Committee on Science, Space and
Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment hosted a hearing to
examine the EPA’s prior and on-going studies on the effects of hydraulic
fracturing on the environment. Witnesses from the EPA, Utah Department of
Natural Resources and Cornell University fielded questions about previous EPA
studies conducted in Dimock, PA, and Pavillion,
WY. Questions about the quantitative rigor of the studies were fielded by
every witness. In particular, why the EPA would release draft reports
suggesting that hydraulic fracturing was linked to groundwater contamination,
but then withdraw the reports before peer review while “standing by their
validity.” Further, committee members asked witnesses what the EPA was doing to ensure its
national scale report on hydraulic fracturing, expected
in 2016, would not follow this same pattern.
For detailed statements by witnesses, and a web archive of the
hearing, visit the House
Committee on Science’s website.
Written by: Garrett Lent, Research Assistant
Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center
July 2013
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