Hydraulic Fracturing

The drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is now widely used around the country to extract natural gas from deep shale deposits. In 2005, the Bush administration convinced Congress to exempt this process from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, even though it entails pumping millions of gallons of water and numerous chemicals deep underground.

As the technique has spread, fracking has fueled a bonanza for energy companies at the expense of clean water. Fracturing operations in other regions, particularly in the Marcellus shale in the Northeast and in other formations out West, have been linked to health and environmental problems ranging from contaminated well water to polluted rivers and streams to the industrialization of rural lands.

SELC Takes Action

SELC is working with a coalition of environmental and public health advocates urging Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act (the FRAC Act), which would lift the fracking exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act and require drillers to disclose the chemicals they inject underground.

A proposal to use hydraulic fracturing near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia west of the Shenandoah Valley brought fracking in our region into sharp focus. Local groups and citizens were swift to raise concerns, and the gas company postponed their plan in August 2010, citing local opposition. However, industry interest in the Marcellus Shale formation, which runs along the Appalachians from Virginia to New York, remains high.

SELC's immediate priorities are to protect ground and surface water in western Virginia, and to keep fracking out of the George Washington National Forest, a large portion of which overlaps Marcellus Shale. The publicly owned national forest is a source of drinking water for about 262,600 people in nearby Virginia communities, and shelters prime native trout streams in the James and Potomac river watersheds.