Five U.S. House of Representatives members introduced on November 18 what they are calling “the Frack Pack,” a set of five bills aimed at public health protections from hydraulic fracturing.
The House members are Jan Schakowsky (Illinois), Diana DeGette (Colorado), Jared Huffman (California), Kathy Castor (Florida), and Yvette Clarke (New York). The bills are titled the SHARED Act, FRAC Act, FRESHER Act, CLEANER Act, and CLOSE Act.
"Hydraulic fracking is a serious risk to our water, no matter how much big oil and gas insist it is safe,” Schakowsky said. “The truth is these companies are not even required to report when their fracking activity contaminates the local water supply.
"The SHARED Act is commonsense legislation that would require oil and gas companies to regularly test nearby water sources and disclose the results. Families deserve to know that the water coming out of their tap is safe to drink and use.”
The fill bills are:
1. The SHARED Act would require testing for water contamination near fracking sites.
2. The FRAC Act would eliminate a loophole under which fracking fluids are exempted from regulation under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The FRAC Act would require fracking companies to publicly disclose the chemicals they are pumping into the ground and give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate the process under its Underground Injection Control program.
3. The FRESHER Act creates a study to better understand the effect of storm water runoff from oil and gas companies.
4. The CLEANER Act would make oil and gas companies responsible for cleaning up and disposing of hazardous waste that comes from their operations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Subtitle C, the country's hazardous waste management law.
5. The CLOSE Act would add hydrogen sulfide to the list of hazardous air pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act. Hydrogen sulfide is an air released during oil and gas exploration and production.