Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection Defends States' Ability to Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing
This post was written by Luke Liben and Nicolle Bagnell.
Last week Secretary Michael Krancer of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection testified before the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment regarding his stance that federal intervention was unnecessary to aid state regulation of hydraulic fracking processes. Citing the unique geographic and geologic features of each individual state where fracking was taking place, Mr. Krancer stated that a "one-size-fits-all" approach would not be appropriate to ensuring safe and practical fracking procedures. Secretary Krancer also made the Subcommittee aware that despite the roughly 1.2 million wells that have been drilled using this process, there has yet to be a report of drinking water contamination. Mr. Krancer cited this process as yielding both jobs and cheaper energy costs, and reiterated his stance that the individual states were doing a good job with their own regulatory regimes. For more information, click here.
