Hydraulic fracturing, stormwater bills debut in US Senate

Washington (Platts)--21Apr2005

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe
(Republican-Oklahoma) introduced this week a pair of bills designed to exempt
oil and gas producers from certain Clean Water Act requirements with an eye
toward their inclusion in the Senate's version of comprehensive energy
legislation, a committee spokesman said Thursday. 

One measure would clarify that the extraction method of hydraulic fracturing
is exempt from the act, while the other would exempt oil and gas facilities
that disturb one to five acres of land from compliance with the
stormwater-permitting program authorized under the law. Last year, the
Environmental Protection Agency formally determined that hydraulic fracturing
poses no threat to drinking water, but the committee spokesman said the
measure is necessary in order to stave off potential litigation against the
industry in the future.

Inhofe said in a statement the stormwater measure "frees the [construction]
sites from having to undertake a burdensome permitting process" that the
Energy Dept said in a report earlier this year could cost the industry upwards
of $66-bil by 2025. HR 6, the energy bill being debated on the House floor
Thursday contains similar language sparing hydraulic fracturing from the Clean
Water Act, but it does not have a comparable stormwater provision.

This story was originally published in Platts Natural Gas Alert
http://www.naturalgasalert.platts.com

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