Drilling service companies have injected at
least 32 million gallons of diesel fuel under-
ground as part of a controversial
drilling
technique, a Democratic congressional
investigation
has found.
Injecting diesel as part of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" is supposed to be regulated by U.S. EPA. But an agency official told congressional investigators that EPA had assumed that the use of diesel had stopped seven years ago.
"The industry has been saying they stopped injecting toxic diesel fuel into wells," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who led the inquiry. "But our investigation showed this practice has been continuing in secret and in apparent violation of the [Safe Drinking Water Act]."
Waxman calculated the amount of diesel based on voluntary disclosures from "service companies" like Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger, which do the "frack jobs" for well operators. On Monday, Waxman and fellow committee members Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) shared their findings in an open letter to EPA officials.
The letter said they had not been able to determine whether the diesel injections threatened groundwater. The service companies told Waxman's staff they did not know how close their frack jobs were to sources of drinking water, saying their clients, the well operators, would have that information.
Of the total figure, 10 million gallons was "straight diesel fuel," according to the letter, while another 22 million gallons was products containing at least 30 percent diesel.
That is likely to cause more debate about an industry that has long assured Washington policymakers that diesel is rarely used, that most fracturing fluid is water and that the amount of chemicals in fracturing fluid is less than 2 percent.
Industry officials derided the lawmakers' announcement, saying it was long on sensationalism and short on substance.
EPA officials note that they have undertaken a multi-year study of the safety of fracturing and are working on implementing the diesel regulation authority Congress granted in 2005.