Fracking. During consideration of the Keystone XL pipeline bill (S. 1), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced an amendment to remove exemptions of fracking and natural gas storage from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) offered the amendment on Senator Gillibrand’s behalf, noting: “This amendment amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect clean drinking water sources from hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, and from underground storage of natural gas. The Safe Drinking Water Act currently exempts underground injection of fracking fluids and underground storage of natural gas from regulation under the act. The Gillibrand amendment repeals those exemptions and makes underground injection of fracking fluids and underground storage of natural gas subject to those regulations.”
The Senate rejected Gillibrand’s amendment on January 28, 2015 by a vote of 35 to 63 (Roll Call 41). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the federal government has no constitutional authority to regulate industry practices or set drinking water standards. These standards are monitored and enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is itself an unconstitutional agency created by executive order. The Obama administration, particularly the EPA, is known to be an opponent of fracking, so this is likely a backdoor attack on the industry. State and local governments should be setting drinking water standards and monitoring for pollutants, not unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
