The Environmental Protection Agency this week released a report on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water.
As The Rural Blog reports, this will be the final EPA report during the Obama administration. The study struck out a controversial phrase that had appeared in last year’s report, which stated that researchers had found no evidence of widespread impacts to drinking water supplies.
The sentence has been replaced with a more guarded phrase, reading: “Hydraulic fracturing activities can impact drinking water resources ... under some circumstances.”
The change to these few words has had a big impact. Environmental groups cheered the amended language, and the oil industry cried foul, claiming the change was due to liberal political interference. EPA official Thomas Burke answered the criticism bluntly: “There are instances when hydrofracking has impacted drinking-water resources.