Has the EPA failed America by denying the link between fracking waste and our drinking water crisis?

Monday, October 10, 2016 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Tags: EPA, fracking, polluted water

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(NaturalNews) Over 200 public interest groups working to defend human and environmental health have signed off on a letter to the EPA, questioning the agency's recent claim that hydraulic fracturing is not having "widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States."

Bizarrely, the EPA's own Science Advisory Board (SAB) also argued against the EPA's blanket support for fracking. The SAB remarked "that if the EPA retains this conclusion, the EPA should provide quantitative analysis that supports its conclusion that hydraulic fracturing has not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources."

Over 200 public interest groups call on EPA to back up its blanket fracking safety statement

The 200 public interest groups are doubling down on the EPA's blanket fracking safety statement. They ask why the EPA has not provided reasoning, sense, method or any sort of gauge for proving that fracking isn't and will not lead to more problems with drinking water supplies in the U.S.

The EPA's blanket statement presumes, without any discussion, that over time, fracking will have no impact on water and air quality. Their statement also dismisses any future evaluation and actual scientific testing of what fracking chemicals and procedures are doing to the water supply. The statement also undermines the severity of problems already occurring due to fracking, including the displacement of heavy metals into the water supply.

For these reasons, the more than 200 public interest groups, representing millions of people, charge that the EPA has "done the public a disservice" by "seriously misrepresent[ing] the findings of its underlying study."

Their thoughtful and important rebuke was sent directly to EPA chief Gina McCarthy. Signees include Indigenous Environmental Network, Union of Concerned Scientists, Breast Cancer Action, Food & Water Watch, United Native Americans, 350.org and many more.

EPA claims fracking has no effect on U.S. water supplies despite evidence to the contrary

Problems with drinking water supplies due to fracking have been cited in state EPA investigations in Dimock, Pennsylvania; Pavillion, Wyoming; and Parker County, Texas. The letter calls on the EPA to release these findings and explain their status, as these issues indicate that water quality problems are likely to occur in other areas where fracking is pervasive.

The letter also points out that the EPA blanket fracking safety statement was negligently repeated throughout the news media, much to the delight of the fracking industry. When a trusted environmental safety organization of the U.S. government makes such blanket, unsupported statements and they're repeated by the media, it brainwashes the population into passivity about important issues that affect their health and well-being.

"We expect," the letter concludes, "that the agency's final assessment will be clear about where thorough scientific analysis ends and any political considerations begin."

Sources include:

CommonDreams.org

CommonDreams.org