Ending The Secret About Chemicals In Our Drinking Water
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but secret gas drilling chemicals don’t belong in drinking water. That’s exactly the kind of sentiment that makes it very inconvenient for Dick Cheney’s buddies at Halliburton who want to use secret chemicals to extract gas from the earth – a controversial method known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” You…
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Forgive me for stating the obvious, but secret gas drilling chemicals don’t belong in drinking water.
That’s exactly the kind of sentiment that makes it very inconvenient for Dick Cheney’s buddies at Halliburton who want to use secret chemicals to extract gas from the earth – a controversial method known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.”
You see, the pesky Safe Drinking Water Act kept getting in the way. So they asked for special treatment from Congress. And in 2005 they got it.
But today, members of Congress said, “Enough is enough,” introducing bills in both chambers of Congress that would close the Halliburton loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act.
To the relief of people all over the country, Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Jared Polis (D-CO), and Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have introduced the “Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act.”
If you live in these lawmakers’ districts, send ‘em a thank you note!
Don’t live in these lawmakers’ district? Tell your member of Congress to support this bill!
In areas of the country undergoing a gas drilling rush, companies are polluting more water than the region’s wastewater treatment plants can handle. The bill comes on the heels of three back-to-back investigative pieces in the New York Times which shed light both on the enormous quantities of polluted water the oil and gas industry is generating – some of it radioactive – and on the regulatory loopholes that leave drinking water sources woefully unprotected.
As Earthjustice Legislative Associate Jessica Ennis told reporters:
Lawmakers are proposing a simple fix to a serious problem: close the loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act and allow this law to get back to work protecting people from chemicals and hazardous waste in their drinking water. Congress needs to pass the “Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act,” and soon. The millions of Americans whose health and drinking water supplies are at stake don’t have time to waste.
From 2007–2018, Kathleen partnered with clean energy coalitions and grassroots organizations, empowered communities to fight against fracking, and worked with the Policy & Legislation team to have their messages heard by legislators.
Established in 1989, Earthjustice's Policy & Legislation team works with champions in Congress to craft legislation that supports and extends our legal gains.
