American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2017 - 35

frac wastewater; and
* Disposing or storing frac flowback
in unlined pits.
EPA says the report "provides valuable
information about potential vulnerabilities
to drinking water resources, but was not designed to be a list of documented impacts."
It adds that because of its "data gaps
and uncertainties . . . it was not possible
to fully characterize the severity of impacts, nor was it possible to calculate or
estimate the national frequency of impacts
on drinking water resources."
Evidence To The Contrary
The Independent Petroleum Association of America contends the opposite.
"If fracturing was a major threat to
drinking water supplies, the data gathered
by EPA would show it, but they don't,"
writes Energy in Depth spokeswoman
Katie Brown.
She points out that EPA billed its
2015 draft report as the "most complete
compilation of scientific data to date," and
observes, "If the most comprehensive report to date was unable to find systemic
impacts to groundwater, that is evidence
that there is an absence of impact."
Brown also cites a story in the Wall
Street Journal, in which a reporter asked
EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator
Thomas Burke about EPA removing from
the final report, a statement in the draft report that the cases of contamination "were
small compared with the large number" of
fractured wells.
Burke responded that "while the number of identified cases of drinking water
contamination is small, the scientific evidence is insufficient to support estimates
of the frequency of contamination," Brown
quotes the Wall Street Journal story.
She then remarks, "Of course, there is
absolutely no difference between saying
the 'number of identified cases of drinking water contamination is small,' and there
are "no widespread, systemic impacts.'"
That conclusion has been corroborated over and over, Brown observes, pointing to the Texas RRC's conclusion in Parker County and the Wyoming Department
of Environmental Quality's final report that
methane in water wells near Pavillion, Wy.,
was not caused by nearby fracturing, as
well as research conducted by the University of Cincinnati, the U.S. Energy Department's National Energy Technology Laboratory, the University of Texas at Austin,
the California Council on Science and
Technology, and Yale University, among
others.
Turning back to the Science Advisory
Board's concerns with EPA's draft report,
Brown says, "(The board) made a request
that borders on the absurd: It asked the

agency to prove that there wasn't widespread, systemic impacts to groundwater
from hydraulic fracturing-in other words,
prove a negative.
"The section of the recommendation that
especially illustrates this occurs when the
board requests EPA alter its finding that
fracturing fluids haven't impacted groundwater because 'this major finding is supported only by an absence of evidence rather
than by evidence of absence of impact.'"
In the end, Brown concludes, "While
EPA made some wording changes to its

previous top-line finding, the data have not
changed. EPA found nothing to suggest
that fracturing is a serious risk to groundwater. So perhaps contrary to its intention,
EPA's study officially closes the book on
the environmental activists' deliberate
misinformation campaign."
Adds IPAA President and Chief Executive Officer Barry Russell, "Five years
and $33 million later, we know now what
we have known throughout the 60-year
history of hydraulic fracturing: It is safe
and well regulated by the states."
❒

Bear Paw One Step Closer To Building Export Pipeline
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA-Bear
Paw Pipeline Corporation Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (LNGL), has
received environmental assessment approval from Nova Scotia Environment
for its natural gas pipeline.
Bear Paw says it is proposing to construct and operate a 38.8-mile natural gas
pipeline in Nova Scotia from Goldboro
to LNGL's proposed Bear Head LNG liquefied natural gas export facility in Point
Tupper. The company says the Goldboroto-Point Tupper pipeline will connect
Bear Head LNG, a wholly owned subsidiary of LNGL, to the North American

natural gas pipeline network.
"Bear Head LNG is uniquely positioned to provide liquefaction services to
Western Canadian, Northeast U.S., and
offshore Nova Scotia resource owners desiring to sell natural gas to the global LNG
market," says Bear Paw President Greg
Vesey. "With a strong location that provides shorter sailing times to major overseas markets, and LNGL's patented
OSMR® technology-a midscale, scalable, efficient, and reliable technology that
delivers the LNG industry's lowest full
cycle cost-Bear Head LNG has significant competitive advantages."
❒

JANUARY 2017 35
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2017

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