WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, March 19, 2015
Nearly 100 Groups Call on Congress to Reign in Impacts from Fracking

Five New Bills Would Tackle Worst of Fracking from Oil and Gas
Contact: Tim Ream (541) 531-8541

Nearly 100 groups called on Congress today to support a set of five new bills that would reign in some of the worst impacts from fracking for oil and gas. Horizontal drilling and high pressure fracturing of shale formations, or fracking, has been linked to numerous problems including: toxic air emissions, release of methane and other climate pollution, use of and pollution of tremendous amounts of drinking water, and polluting aquifers and causing earthquakes through the underground injection of fracking waste water. The new bills would close environmental law loopholes used by the fracking industry and begin to address many of these pollution problems.

"It is unbelievable that Americans and our elected officials have given the oil and gas industry a free pass to frack away while ignoring environmental laws and community health for this long," said Tim Ream, WildEarth Guardians Climate and Energy Campaign Director. "Someday Congress will wake up and ban this dirty practice, but for now, closing these loopholes is a great start."

WildEarth Guardians focuses it fight against fracking on public lands in the U.S. West. Two of its biggest fights at this time include stopping the fracking of Colorado's Pawnee National Grasslands and stopping fracking and a related oil pipeline near New Mexico's Chaco Culture National Historical Park.