To: The United States Senate
Close the Fracking Loophole
EPA research has concluded what we’ve suspected all along: fracking puts our drinking water at risk. Yet, a provision in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, known as the Halliburton loophole, stripped the EPA of its authority to regulate fracking.
It was wrong then and it’s wrong now. The Senate must close the loopholes in the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water act that have exempted the fracking industry.
Why is this important?
Since 2005, the oil and gas industry has fracked over 137,000 wells, used over 6 billion pounds of chemicals and produced billions of gallons of fracking wastewater.
At least 157 of the chemicals used in fracking fluid are toxic to humans and aquatic life. Fracking produces billions of gallons of fracking fluid waste each year. And time and again, toxic spills have contaminated our water and endangered our health.
Yet the fracking industry remains exempt from EPA regulation and the laws that ensure the safety of our drinking water. The Senate must close the fracking loopholes in the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.