EPA’s science advisers challenge fracturing report

WASHINGTON — Science advisers to the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday challenged an already controversial government report on whether thousands of oil and gas wells that rely on hydraulic fracturing systemically pollute drinking water across the nation.

That EPA report, many years in the making and still not final, had concluded, “We did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States,” adding that while there had been isolated problems, those were “small compared to the number of hydraulically fractured wells.”

The conclusion was widely cited and interpreted to mean that while there may have been occasional contamination of water supplies, it was not a nationwide problem. Many environmental groups faulted the study, even as industry groups hailed it.

But the 30-member advisory panel on Thursday concluded the agency’s report was “comprehensive but lacking in several critical areas.”

It recommended that the report be revised to include “quantitative analysis that supports its conclusion” — if, indeed, the conclusion can be defended.

The panel said its critique was backed by 26 of its members, but four dissented. The advisory group is comprised of academic, government, and industry scientists.

The EPA report in question was originally requested by Congress in 2010, when one of the principal environmental concerns centered on whether fracturing could contaminate drinking supplies. Since then, other environmental questions — including concerns over methane emissions from drilling operations — have also gained prominence.

The report, published in June of last year in draft form, represents a nearly five-year effort by the EPA to analyze technical data from thousands from fracturing operations and nearby aquifers in states around the country.