EPA Announces Final Study Plan to Assess Hydraulic Fracturing

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final research plan today to assess impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.

The study, requested by Congress, will look at the full cycle of water-related activities in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, from the mixing of chemicals to the injection of fracturing fluids to the treatment and disposal of wastewater.

The initial research results and study findings will be released to the public in 2012. The final report will be delivered in 2014. To ensure that the study is complete and results are available to the public in a timely manner, EPA initiated some activities this summer that were supported by the Science Advisory Board and provide a foundation for the full study.

The study comes as the water-intensive and controversial process has expanded in many areas of the country, raising concerns about impacts on drinking water supplies.The process involves injecting chemical-laced water and sand at high pressure into shale formations to release previously inaccessible stores of natural gas.

Production from shale formations has grown from a negligible amount just a few years ago to almost 15% of total U.S. natural gas production and this share is expected to triple in the coming decades.

In October, EPA announced plans to develop national standards for the disposal of wastewater generated by the fracking process.

More information on EPA’s activities can be found here.