Inhofe Letter Targets EPA Air Rule on Hydraulic Fracturing

Link to Letter Link to Press Release Washington, D.C. - The Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to announce at any moment that it has released its finalized New Source Performance Standards (NSPSs) and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) for Oil and Gas Production and Natural Gas Transmission. In anticipation of this announcement, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, sent a letter today to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson expressing serious concern that the intention of this rule is to attack hydraulic fracturing, as the agency is moving forward on the foundation of faulty and inaccurate data, without regard for the economic impacts. Some studies estimate that this new rule could result in 47,000 direct job losses as unconventional gas well drilling would decline considerably.

---

"EPA's latest oil and gas regulations are a continuation of President Obama's attack on hydraulic fracturing," Senator Inhofe said. "President Obama has crafted a very clever election strategy: he's going around the country touting the virtues of natural gas, while at the same time, he's completely undermining natural gas development by working aggressively to shut down hydraulic fracturing - and these new air rules are very much a part of that agenda. "These rules are also just another indication that President Obama's global warming regime is alive and well, as they are an improper attempt to regulate greenhouse gases released during hydraulic fracturing. But EPA is using faulty data to over-exaggerate emissions - according to some estimates by 1,400 percent - in order to gain more and more control over hydraulic fracturing, with the intention of eventually putting the practice to a halt. Even IHS CERA has said that EPA has inappropriately rounded data points and concealed their lack of consistent and reliable data. The Obama-EPA needs cease this senseless war on natural gas production and immediately go back to the drawing board to make substantial corrections to these rules."

---