I first heard about fracking (the drilling of natural-gas wells using a method known as hydraulic fracturing) in 2009 when environmental advocates charged that natural-gas drilling could endanger New York City’s water resources. I lived in the city at that time, so the news that natural-gas drilling could threaten my drinking water was alarming.
Many other New Yorkers shared these concerns, and the question of whether or not to allow fracking in the state flared into an ongoing political battle, one being re-enacted across the 30 states where natural-gas drilling is occurring. Nearly half a million natural-gas wells are operating across the country.
Here’s how fracking works: A well is drilled thousands of feet vertically into the ground, through the water table. Then a horizontal hole is drilled into a shale bed, extending laterally from the first well bore. A fracking mixture comprised of thousands of gallons of water laced with sand and toxic chemicals is pumped into the well at extremely high pressure. This fractures the shale rock, which releases methane gas that is captured and sold. Once you visualize this process, the potential risks of contamination to water supplies are obvious.
You’re probably wondering whether there’s a law against poisoning water. The answer is yes (the Safe Drinking Water Act) and no (a clause was inserted into the 2005 Energy Policy Act, exempting natural-gas drilling from that drinking water law). Just as hydraulic fracturing was getting cheaper and the demand and price for natural gas was rising, federal oversight was removed.
OMB Watch, a government accountability group I lead, recently published a new report on fracking, “The Right to Know, the Responsibility to Protect.” The report examined actions state officials have or have not taken to require drillers to disclose chemicals used in fracking. Roughly a dozen states have passed laws or had agencies establish rules requiring disclosure. But there are two gaping holes in these laws that render them essentially toothless.