EPA declines to confirm a connection between fracking and groundwater pollution in Wyoming

By Erika Johnsen June 20, 2013

Under President Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t displayed much of an inclination for judiciousness in their bureaucratic rulemaking. It seems that they rarely miss an opportunity to design new regulations, to ascribe themselves new and expanded authority, nor to find and/or make up new justifications for doing so — which makes this… conspicuously odd.

Since 2011, the EPA has been “reviewing” their study on the effects of hydraulic fracturing — a.k.a. “fracking,” the drilling technique largely behind the shale oil and gas boom sweeping the nation — on possible groundwater contamination near drilling sites in Wyoming. It was the first major study that pointed to a possible link between fracking and groundwater pollution, and the eco-radical crowd cheered the EPA onward (never you mind the many glaring problems with the study’s findings and analysis, which Wyoming Governor Matt Mead at the time called “scientifically questionable”) while the EPA pursued their desired results with all of the single-minded determination of a government agency whose collective mind is already made up….here we are, over a year later, and the EPA still hasn’t been able to conclusively determine that the chemicals they are detecting are indeed the result of hydraulic fracturing — which might explain why the independent federal agency is now deciding to abandon their plan to confirm that the two are linked and is instead returning the regulatory responsibilities back to the state of Wyoming. ….To Read More….