LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST EPA OVER DISCLOSURE OF FRACKING CHEMICALS

By TONI ELLINGTON

On January 7, 2015, a lawsuit was filed against the EPA for its failure to require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations.  The lawsuit, filed  in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit by  lead plaintiff the Environmental Integrity Project, along with plaintiffs Center for Effective Government, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, Clean Air Council, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Natural Resources Defense Council, Responsible Drilling Alliance, and Texas Campaign for the Environment, alleges that the EPA’s failure to act allows the oil and gas industry to be exempt from the Toxic Release Inventory provision of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986.  The groups previously filed a petition with the EPA in 2012, seeking establishment of a rule to require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals used in fracking.

Fracking involves the injection of water, chemicals, and sand below ground to extract oil and gas from shale formations.  Oil and gas companies have argued that the chemicals used in fracking should be protected as trade secrets.

Earlier this year, the EPA rejected requests from U.S. Senators to stop a study on the ability of the agency and states to manage water contamination associated with fracking.  The request was made in a letter by Senator James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, to EPA Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins, Jr.  According to Senator Inhofe, the Inspector General’s study was wasteful and duplicative.  However, Elkins responded that the EPA would continue with its study, which will assess state-by-state the respective authorities for regulating fracking.  The EPA study will also “identify potential threats to water resources from hydraulic fracturing and evaluate the EPA’s and states’ responses to them.”

According to some reports, over 400 laws to prevent or control fracking operations have been passed by U.S. cities and counties.  In November of 2014, voters in the city of Denton, Texas passed a fracking ban for the city.  The highest court in the state of New York, the New York Court of Appeals, ruled in June that New York municipalities could ban fracking.

To view the complaint in this lawsuit, see Environmental Integrity Project v. U.S. EPA, No. 15-cv-17 (D.D.C.) available on PACER.  For updates on the litigation, contact Toni Ellington at (504) 599-8500.