In a related matter involving hydraulic fracturing (fracking), but dealing with inland issues, a recent report from the Governmental Accountability Office is significant. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that prevents pollutants associated with fracturing from contaminating groundwater in eight states, including California, Pennsylvania and Texas, is outdated and lacks sufficient muscle, according to the report released. According to the government watchdog, the EPA has not evaluated emerging risks such as overpressurization of geologic formations and potential contamination of potable groundwater by diesel fuels, leaving many states without the tools necessary to ensure their programs are effective.
GAO’s report noted that the EPA, which largely agreed with the GAO’s findings, has only in February of this year updated its guidance for the program, issuing updated recommendations for oil and gas hydraulic fracturing activities that use diesel fuels. The EPA also must do more to incorporate changes to state program requirements into federal regulations, the report said, noting that such steps are necessary to ensure that it has appropriate enforcement authority for all state program requirements. The report stated further:
Without incorporating these requirements and changes into federal regulations, EPA cannot enforce them if a state does not take action or requests EPA’s assistance to take action.
The GAO report also stressed the importance of on-site evaluations of the programs conducted by the states that were evaluated in the report, including Colorado, Kentucky, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma, which the agency has neglected due to lack of funding.
Other problems noted in the report centered on the agency’s data collection efforts for the program. For example, data the agency collects to determine whether states are complying with the program is typically difficult to summarize. That’s because many states submit the information on paper, rather than electronically. Additionally, forms were sometimes submitted with missing data and it wasn’t clear whether the blank fields represented actual missing data or zeros, the report said.
The GAO report also noted that different states are known to interpret the instructions on the forms differently, particularly when evaluating the amount of significant noncompliance and the alleged contamination of aquifers. In determining whether a well had contaminated an underground aquifer, different state agencies informed the GAO that some reported the incident only if it was confirmed as coming from a well, while other states would report these instances without confirmation.
To address these issues, the GAO recommended that the EPA also focus its efforts on improving the collection of this data to ensure that it is consistent, complete, and can be effectively evaluated at the national level. The report noted that the EPA took umbrage with the GAO’s recommendation that the agency incorporate state program requirements and changes to state program requirements into federal regulations, saying it would cost the agency “considerable effort” to determine whether the new rules would comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The GAO report notes that as of 2012, there were more than 170,000 of these wells in the United States, located in states as diverse as California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. The fluids, which consist largely of salt water and may contain pollutants such as chlorides, hydrocarbons, and naturally occurring radioactive materials, are blasted deep into these wells into underground rock formations that are usually below aquifers that provide potable water. Known as Underground Injection Control class II program, the regulations provide safeguards to ensure that the fluids do not leak into the surrounding aquifer.
Other types of wells that are included in the program are disposal wells, where brines and other fluids brought to the surface during fracking are disposed of, and storage wells, which hold liquid petroleum products as part of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
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