By John Danz Jr – [email protected]
Halliburton is coming under scrutiny from the Environmental Protection Agency for neglecting to provide them with information and data on a procedure known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” For this, the EPA has issued the oil company a subpoena, and the agency now intends to collect data pertaining to how fracking affects drinking water per a study mandated by Congress.
Since fracking is exempt from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, drillers don’t have to disclose much about the act. Fracking basically consists of shooting sand, water and other chemicals into high pressure rock formations thousands of feet under the surface to increase the output of a well. In September, the EPA asked nine oil companies to give them some information about their fracking practices – Halliburton is the only company that has ignored the request thus far.
In response, Halliburton says that the EPA’s demands are too broad, and that they’ve already given them around 5,000 pages worth of information. They also claim that in order to provide sufficient information, they would have to compile 50,000 spreadsheets. Regardless of the accusations, a Haliburton spokesman told Bloomberg News: “Halliburton welcomes any federal court’s examination of our good-faith efforts with the EPA to date.”
The EPA intends to notify the general public if it is revealed that fracking taints drinking water in some form.
Halliburton is also under Congressional scrutiny for providing BP with faulty cement in their efforts to fix the wounded Deepwater Horizon oil well, which was responsible for the worst oil spill in U.S. history. If Congress’ findings lead to an indisputable accusation of negligence, Halliburton could face felony charges.
John Danz Jr. is a work in progress, who enjoys the freedom of writing. Contact him at [email protected].
