IER releases statement on EPA draft fracking report

Researchers at Penn State who claimed to find contaminants due to hydraulic fracturing have withdrawn their findings and attributed the evidence they alleged to a laboratory error

, --December 8, 2011

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WASHINGTON DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued today a draft report alleging that hydraulic fracturing for natural gas is the likely cause of contaminants in a drinking water aquifer in a town in Wyoming. IER Senior Vice President for Policy, Dan Kish, issued the following statement:
“The EPA’s announcement today that the agency has discovered fracking-related contaminants in a Wyoming aquifer warrants the strictest scrutiny. Already, researchers at Penn State who claimed to find contaminants due to hydraulic fracturing have withdrawn their findings and attributed the evidence they alleged to a laboratory error. Under Administrator Lisa Jackson, the EPA has played an increasingly politicized role in regulatory enforcement. Demonstrating the validity of this report in the face of 50 years of safe hydraulic fracturing without any evidence of contamination is a burden that Administrator Jackson must now bear.”

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Institute for Energy Research——

The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit organization that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and government regulation of global energy markets. IER maintains that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges and, as such, are critical to the well-being of individuals and society.