Bipartisan Congressional Group Pressing Obama Admin To Avoid Any Regulations On Fracking

[hatrack]

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers pressed the Obama administration on the first day of the new Congress not to impose regulations curtailing drilling technique that taps hard-to-get natural gas reserves but has generated criticism about potential water pollution. Thirty-two members of the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus called on the Interior Department on Wednesday not to hinder producers who use hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from underground rock formations.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in late November his department was considering requiring companies on federal lands to disclose contents of their fracking fluids, which are a mixture of water, sand and chemicals.

The fracking process has boosted U.S. natural gas supplies, but environmentalists fear chemicals used in the process are polluting underground drinking water sources.

The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the fracking process and has asked major drilling companies, like Halliburton, for information about the chemicals they use. The group of lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, told Salazar that scientific evidence shows fracking is safe.

Ed. Well, you can't argue with that, now can you?

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7045RS20110105?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

[Drale]

1. Are those Democrats the Blue dogs?

People really don't know the meaning of science do they?

[atreides1]

2. Here's my reply

Tell those members of the Natural Gas Caucus to only drink water from those wells, and include their families.

If they believe the "scientific evidence", then they won't mind showing the People of America how safe that water is!!!

[The Wielding Truth]

4. Excellent!

[The Wielding Truth]

3. We have too large of a population to be reckless.It's not worth the

harm to irresponsibly trust Halliburton for information when past experience shows that safety for them takes a back seat to profit.

[jwirr]

5. Funny how scientific evidence is used for this and not for global warming. nt

[JohnWxy]

6. RECOMMENDED.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. aaaargh ... another too late to rec. This needs attention. nt