Today across the country we have seen admittedly alarming headlines on diesel and hydraulic fracturing. Unfortunately, Representative Henry Waxman and his Democrat colleagues’ letter exploit common misconceptions that create further barriers in building a reasonable dialogue about our nation’s energy.
Hydraulic fracturing undoubtedly requires strong regulation! Oil and gas drilling is an industrial process with potential and real impacts to environmental resources and communities. Hydraulic fracturing is a highly engineered process which requires competent and knowledgeable supervision by regulators familiar with geologic conditions and technical specifications. Fortunately, in Colorado, every aspect of drilling is regulated by the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), the state agency with technical knowledge of Colorado’s geological basins.
Diesel was used historically for hydraulic fracturing, and the quantities of diesel used have decreased markedly over time. Diesel has constituents which, if released to shallow groundwater, would contaminate drinking water. Here’s the important part: we don’t want any hydraulic fracturing fluids to get into any drinking water.
The oil and gas industry is comprised of your neighbors, citizens in the cities and communities across Colorado within which we live and work. We are equally interested in protecting our environmental and groundwater resources.
To be clear, hydraulic fracturing fluids are never injected into drinking water aquifers. Oil company best management practices and state regulation emphasize preventing groundwater contamination in the two most important areas: surface fluid management and well casing and cementing.
The diesel and hydraulic fracturing letter and resulting coverage were misleading in a number of ways, and the details are important! First, the oft-referenced memorandum of agreement was focused on the shallowest of hydraulic fracturing activities, in coal bed methane.
Second, while the use of diesel in hydraulic fracturing was placed under the Safe Drinking Water Act in 2005, EPA never went through the public rulemaking process, or even provided guidance to Colorado, or any other state, so they could promulgate their own rules; thus, there was not a regulatory framework for permitting or reporting hydraulic fracturing with diesel through EPA. As a result, there wasn’t a regulation to be broken. Finally, the confirmed use of diesel fuels in hydraulic fracturing, regardless of how you feel about it, does not infer that groundwater resources have been contaminated.
Discussions about hydraulic fracturing cannot occur in a vacuum. In Colorado, more than 90 percent of wells are fractured. So any discussion about affordable, available, low-emissions energy production must include this topic. Energy production is a cornerstone of our state’s economic prosperity in literally every corner.
Energy development and its balance with community, environmental, and social priorities will be a long-term and exhilarating debate for Colorado’s foreseeable future. We are committed to engaging with all of our stakeholders in a discussion for the long term benefit of our state.
Tisha Conoly Schuller is a mom, environmental scientist, and President and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
