A recent government report that no evidence exists to link hydraulic fracturing with widespread harm to drinking water reaffirms that fracturing can be done responsibly, maintained Michael Krancer, a partner at Blank Rome LLP in Philadelphia and formerly secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The Environmental Protection Agency's finding aligned with what Krancer has said since he was a state regulator during 2011-13, he told UOGR in an interview.
EPA's report mentioned a sharp decrease in the treatment of Marcellus fracturing wastewater by publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) in Pennsylvania. As a state regulator, Krancer was involved in changing how Marcellus drillers and producers handled wastewater.
"Treatment of hydraulic fracturing wastewater by POTWs was used in the past in Pennsylvania," EPA's assessment said. "This decreased sharply following new state-level requirements and a request by the Pennsylvania DEP for well operators to stop sending Marcellus shale wastewaters to POTWs (and 15 centralized waste treatment facilities) discharging to surface water."
Krancer said the change demonstrated bipartisan cooperation to assure energy development and to protect drinking water as Pennsylvania's state government shifts over time between governors who are Democrat or Republican.
DEP Sec. John Hanger implemented new regulations in Pennsylvania regarding Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) discharges.
Krancer was in charge of the Pennsylvania DEP when he discovered that a few facilities, which had grandfather clauses and were therefore excluded from the regulations, "posed a back-door threat."
In response, Krancer compiled a list of about 30 facilities that he distributed to oil and gas companies. DEP requested that industry take its drilling wastewater elsewhere unless the POWTs on the list were willing to update their equipment and procedures.
"We issued a call requesting that drillers stop using these facilities, and they did. They used companies that took the wastewater to underground injection wells in Ohio, or oil and gas companies did onsite recycling," Krancer said. "They stopped using companies with the grandfather clauses."
Pennsylvania does not have underground injection wells.
Although TDS regulations were not implemented with the oil and gas industry in mind, he said that TDS discharge needs to be managed responsibly because, like with any activity, there is a potential to adversely impact environment resources.
"Both sides of the aisle can and do cooperate in Pennsylvania in providing for responsible energy development," Krancer said, adding that type of cooperation should serve as a model for the nation. "It's a bipartisan issue," he said of fracturing and wastewater regulations.
Other states demonstrating such cooperation are Colorado and Wyoming, he said.
"Unlike some states, New York for example, that is not an issue to divide by partisan politics," Krancer said. States traditionally regulate fracturing, he noted, saying this has been the case since the 1970s
"EPA does not have the expertise to regulate fracturing," Krancer said. "The conditions in every state are vastly different, there are huge differences in geography and climate. Regulations should be specific."
