Congressional Panel Finds Diesel Fuel in Fracking Fluid
Concerns raised on drinking water
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
1 February 2011
By Matthew Daly, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Oil and gas companies have injected more than 32 million
gallons of fluids containing diesel fuel underground without first
getting government approval, a report by congressional Democrats said
Monday.
Lawmakers said the use of diesel fuel by large companies, such as
Halliburton and BJ Services Co., appears to violate the Safe Drinking
Water Act, because the companies never obtained permission from state
or federal authorities to use the diesel fuel.
The probe found no evidence that the use of diesel fuel contaminated
water supplies in the 19 states where it was injected, including
Pennsylvania.
The yearlong probe was led by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Edward J.
Markey, D-Mass., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee.
"The industry has been saying they stopped injecting toxic diesel fuel
into wells. But our investigation showed this practice has been
continuing in secret and in apparent violation" of the Safe Drinking
Water Act, said Mr. Waxman, the panel's senior Democrat and a former
chairman.
The investigation found that 12 of 14 companies hired to perform
hydraulic fracturing, also known as "fracking," used diesel alone or in
a mixture from 2005 to 2009. Of the 32.2 million gallons reported, most
was injected in Texas, followed by Oklahoma, North Dakota, Louisiana
and Wyoming.
The study found that diesel fuel was used in a relatively small amount
-- 589 gallons -- of frack fluid in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spokesman John
Repetz said that the state is not aware of the use of any diesel fuel
in frack fluid here, based on the companies' disclosures of the
chemicals they use on each well site.
Although it was a small amount compared to other states, the DEP could
not explain why Pennsylvania companies told congressional investigators
that they used 589 gallons of frack fluid that contained diesel fuel.
Eben Burnham-Snyder, spokesman for Mr. Markey, did not know which
Marcellus Shale service company -- or companies -- in Pennsylvania
admitted to using diesel fuel in their frack fluid.
In fracking, drillers inject vast quantities of water, sand and
chemicals underground so that oil and natural gas will flow.
The technique has been around for decades but has come under increasing
scrutiny as drilling crews flock to the Marcellus Shale, a rock bed
that lies about 6,000 feet beneath New York, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia and Ohio.
The three lawmakers said they hope to find more information on some of
the chemicals used in the drilling process, including benzene, toluene,
ethylbenzene and xylene.
A Halliburton spokeswoman said the Energy and Commerce report was
inaccurate.
"Halliburton does not believe that the company's hydraulic fracturing
activities have resulted in a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act
or any other federal environmental law. There are currently no
requirements in the federal environmental regulations that require a
company to obtain a federal permit prior to undertaking a hydraulic
fracturing project using diesel," said spokeswoman Teresa Wong.
Gary Flaharty, a spokesman for Baker Hughes, which owns BJ Services,
said the company was no longer using diesel fuel for fracking. The
EPA's position has been that the regulations do not expressly address
or prohibit the use of fuel in fracturing fluid, Mr. Flaharty said,
adding that any attempt to retroactively impose a permit "is clearly
improper."
Texas-based BJ Services used the most diesel fuel and fluids containing
diesel fuel -- 11.5 million gallons -- followed by Texas-based
Halliburton at 7.2 million gallons, the report said
Industry representatives, however, said the 2005 federal law merely
allowed the EPA to have oversight, but the agency never went through
the process of creating the regulations allowed by the law.
As a result, "there was no standing rule they were violating," said Lee
Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, an industry trade group.
He said the industry is currently in court with the EPA over this issue
because the agency last year posted a notice on its website that states
that "any service company that performs hydraulic fracturing using
diesel fuel must receive prior authorization" from the EPA.
He said the industry sued because the EPA posted that notice without
going through a rule-making process, "so no one knows what the standard
is that we're supposed to be operating under."
The EPA said in a statement Monday that it "has embarked on an
expeditious effort to clarify the permitting process as it relates to
diesel use in hydraulic fracturing operations. ... Our goal is to put
in place a clear framework for permitting so that fracturing operations
using diesel receive the review required by law."
Sean Hamill contributed to this report.