EPA Study Says Fracking Pollutes Drinking Water

Eco Watch -In 2010, Congress commissioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study the impact of fracking on drinking water. The U.S. EPA [has] released its long-awaited final draft of its report, assessing how fracking for oil and gas can impact access to safe drinking water. The report refuted the conclusion arrived at by the U.S. EPA's 2004 study that fracking poses no threat to drinking water, a conclusion used to exempt the fracking process from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The report found that fracking for shale oil and gas has not led to "widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States," but said fracking could contaminate drinking water under certain conditions, such as when fluids used in the process leaked into the water table, and found isolated cases of water contamination.