THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY CHRISTIANA, SOLOBAY, ELLIS, BARRAR, BENNINGHOFF, BOYD, CLYMER, CREIGHTON, CUTLER, DENLINGER, EVERETT, GABLER, GEIST, HARHART, HARRIS, MUSTIO, O'NEILL, PYLE, SCAVELLO, STEVENSON, SWANGER, TALLMAN AND WATSON, JANUARY 27, 2010

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, JANUARY 27, 2010  

A RESOLUTION

Supporting continued State regulation of hydraulic fracturing

and urging the Congress of the United States not to approve

legislation that would remove State hydraulic fracturing

regulating practices under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania forever changed the trajectory of the

world economy 150 years ago with the first commercial discovery

of oil in Titusville, Crawford County; and

WHEREAS, Again today, Pennsylvania is making transformational

economic and technological progress through the safe,

responsible and heavily regulated Marcellus shale gas production

enabled by hydraulic fracturing; and

WHEREAS, Domestic natural gas production will ensure that the

United States continues on the path to energy independence and

economic competitiveness; and

WHEREAS, Hydraulic fracturing, which has been in commercial

use for more than 60 years, as well as other advances in

exploration technology, has helped generate a 45% increase in

proven United States natural gas reserves, representing more

than 100 years of available supply at current rates of

consumption; and

WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States passed the Safe

Drinking Water Act (Public Law 93-523, 21 U.S.C. § 349 and 42

U.S.C. §§ 201 and 300f et seq.) to ensure the protection of the

nation's drinking water resources; and

WHEREAS, At no time during the consideration or

implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act did the

Environmental Protection Agency ever interpret hydraulic

fracturing as constituting "underground injection" under that

law; and

WHEREAS, In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency

published a final report that summarized a study evaluating the

potential threat to underground sources of drinking water from

hydraulic fracturing, which report concluded that "additional or

further study is not warranted at this time" and that "the

injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into" coal bed methane

wells "poses minimal threat to" underground sources of drinking

water; and

WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States, in the bipartisan

Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-58, 11 Stat. 594),

which act was supported by then-Senator Barack Obama, explicitly

clarified the intent of the Congress of the United States

relating to hydraulic fracturing and specifically stated that

the act was never intended to be regulated under the Safe

Drinking Water Act; and

WHEREAS, The then EPA Administrator, now assistant to the

President of the United States for energy and climate change,

stated at the time that "there is no evidence that hydraulic

fracturing has resulted in any contamination or endangerment of

underground sources of drinking water"; and

WHEREAS, The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission

conducted a survey of oil and gas producing states that found no

known cases of groundwater contamination associated with

hydraulic fracturing; and

WHEREAS, Each year, approximately 35,000 wells are

hydraulically fractured in the United States and, since the

technique's inception, more than 1.1 million wells have been

hydraulically fractured in the United States with no known harm

to groundwater; and

WHEREAS, The Safe Drinking Water Act was never intended to

grant to the Federal Government authority to regulate oil and

gas drilling and production operations such as hydraulic

fracturing under the Underground Injection Control program; and

WHEREAS, The member states of the Interstate Oil and Gas

Compact Commission have adopted comprehensive laws and

regulations to protect the nation's drinking water resources and

have trained personnel to effectively regulate oil and gas

exploration and production; and

WHEREAS, Regulation of hydraulic fracturing as a category of

underground injection under the Safe Drinking Water Act will

impose significant administrative costs on Pennsylvania and

substantially increase the cost of energy production, with no

resulting environmental benefits; and

WHEREAS, Regulation of hydraulic fracturing under the Safe

Drinking Water Act will increase energy costs to Pennsylvania

families, seniors and small businesses; and

WHEREAS, A recent Pennsylvania State University study found

that Marcellus gas production generated $2.3 billion in total

value added in 2008, more than 29,000 jobs and $240 million in

State and local taxes; and

WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania State University study found that

Marcellus gas production could potentially generate $3.8 billion

in economic output, more than $400 million in State and local

taxes and help create more than $48,000 jobs in 2009; and

WHEREAS, The study also determined that the Marcellus

industry could generate $13.5 billion in value added and almost

175,000 jobs in 2020; and

WHEREAS, The present value of additional State and local

taxes earned from Marcellus development between now and 2020 is

almost $12 billion; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania support continued State regulation

of hydraulic fracturing and urge the Congress of the United

States not to approve legislation that would remove State

hydraulic fracturing regulating practices under the Safe

Drinking Water Act; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives support the

energy technology known as hydraulic fracturing and urge the

Congress of the United States not to pass legislation that will

destroy the current regulatory partnership presently observed in

relation to the process.