EPA Report: California fracking doesn’t cause water pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency’s recent report has found that fracking for oil does not lead to widespread water contamination.

But some experts say the EPA has got it wrong

The report references some isolated incidents where fracking has caused drinking water contamination.

But, environmental scientists say the report contains little original research conducted by the EPA. One water protection expert claims the EPA used outdated water quality studies, because oil and gas companies refused to release their current water quality data.

Critics of the report claim oil and gas companies are able to withhold water data, because elected officials do not want to lose campaign donations.

Dan Jacobson is the Legislative Director for Environment California, he says the oil and gas industry lobbies hard in Sacramento, “The oil and gas industry for years has been one of the largest, if not the largest, contributor to elected officials at the federal and the state level and often times at the local level for years and years. And two years ago oil and gas was the number one contributor to elections.”

California state water protection experts say the report fails to reflect how fracking can worsen drought conditions by poisoning millions of gallons of water.

Jacobson’s group is an outspoken opponent of fracking and says the EPA got it wrong, “This is an example of only looking at a small fraction of the data that’s been accumulated around fracking and drawing a conclusion that doesn’t meet and inform the public about the dangers with fracking.”

This EPA report was narrow in its scope says Jacobson, “What they only looked at was the impacts on the water. But they didn’t look at public health, and they didn’t look at the impacts of the air pollution. So they were looking at an incredibly small scope of the dangers of fracking.”

Still proponents of fracking say there’s been no conclusive data that says fracking is truly harmful to the environment.