Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Mr. Chair, the Bureau of Land Management is currently working toward implementation of a rule that would modernize horribly outdated oil and gas regulations on Federal land. My amendment would strike a section of this bill that would halt this important work.

What we have to do is to allow the BLM to proceed with them implementing this rule to provide a national baseline to protect our environment, our water, and our Federal lands from hazardous contamination.

Since the 1980s, the scale and impacts associated with the oil and gas industry have grown dramatically, but BLM's fracking regulations have not kept pace. In March of 2015, the BLM finalized a modest, commonsense rule to update its 30-year-old fracking regulations.

With these updates, the BLM is taking responsible steps to improve well integrity, reduce the impact of toxic wastewater, and increase transparency around chemicals used in the fracking process.

Importantly, these new regulations will not impact States that already have robust fracking regulations and will simply offer a regulatory baseline for the States that do not have current fracking regulations.

Notably, in 2013, there were still 19 States with operating fracking wells that had absolutely no hydraulic fracturing regulations in place.

Right now over 90 percent of the more than 2,500 oil and gas wells drilled every year on federally managed lands use hydraulic fracturing.

Just this month the EPA released a draft report that concludes that there are above- and below-ground mechanisms by which hazardous hydraulic fracturing chemicals have the potential to impact drinking water resources.

Because of this, the Federal Government really has to take the necessary steps to ensure that toxic, cancer-causing fracking chemicals do not contaminate America's water supply, America's streams, America's rivers, and America's lakes.

As many of you know, the fracking fluids injected into oil and gas wells contain thousands of chemicals, many of which can harm humans and the environment.

In fact, the EPA identified over 1,000 different chemicals that have been used during the hydraulic fracturing process, with an estimated 9,100 gallons of chemicals used for each well.

Due in large part to fracking loopholes and outdated oil and gas regulations, fracking chemical spills and water contaminations have occurred.

In my home State of Pennsylvania, for example, there were nearly 600 documented cases of wastewater and chemical spills in 2013 alone.

In fact, the EPA estimates that there are as many as 12 chemical spills for every 100 oil and gas wells in the State of Pennsylvania. And I need to remind the House that there are almost 8,000 active gas wells operating in Pennsylvania right now. So that is a lot of spills.

Chemical and wastewater spills associated with fracking operations harm the environment, and it has been found to contaminate surface water. The EPA's draft study found that 8 percent of studied wastewater spills polluted surface or groundwater.

Thankfully, the BLM's rule will help prevent fracking chemicals and wastewater from contaminating water bodies.

It does so by validating the integrity of fracking wells and increasing the standards for storage and recovery of waste fluid. This rule will require companies publicly to disclose the chemicals being pumped into public lands.

While I am concerned that the BLM fracking rule does not go far enough in some areas, simply stopping the rule in its tracks is just irresponsible.

I am not opposed to fracking. I believe we have to utilize our natural resources, but we need to do so in a careful and responsible manner.

There are bad actors in the oil and gas business just like there are some bad actors in every area, actors that cut corners and don't drill and frack properly and safely.

The States, unfortunately, don't have all the expertise and resources to properly manage this exploding industry. The rule will set a relatively low bar but one that ensures a baseline across the country to protect our public lands.

I urge you to support my amendment to allow the BLM to implement a rule that will prevent fracking chemical contamination and keep our Nation's water supply pristine and something Americans can be proud of.

Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw this amendment.

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