![Sierra Club Press Release]()
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Contact:
Jason Pitt, Sierra Club, 202.675.6272
Kathleen Sutcliffe, Earthjustice, 202.797.5235
John Rumpler, Environment America, 617.997.8296
Bruce Baizel, Earthworks, 970.259.3353 x2
Stuart Ross, Clean Air Task Force, 914.649.5037
Lynn Thorp, Clean Water Action, 202.895.0420 x109
Environmental Groups Praise EPA’s
First-Ever Clean Air Protections for
Fracking
Agency Takes Important First Step to
Protect Air Quality and Public Health
Washington, D.C.—Today environmental groups
praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) vital
updates to nationwide air quality protections to include oil and
natural gas production. This is the first federal safeguard
aimed at curbing air pollution from hydraulic fracturing or
‘fracking.’
The EPA’s New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and National
Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS) will
benefit the health of Americans and our environment in many
ways. The updated standards will result in major reductions in
emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), toxic benzene and
methane, a highly potent contributor to climate disruption. These
pollutants are known to cause asthma attacks, hospital admissions,
emergency room visits, cancer and even premature death.
The measure will also benefit the gas industry –EPA projects that
capturing more methane and other gasses to send to market will save
an estimated $30 million annually.
Today’s announcement by the EPA is a major step forward.
However, the two-year delay in reducing pollution from wellheads is
an unnecessary setback because industry can meet those standards
now. The environmental community is committed to working
with EPA to strengthen the public health and air quality safeguards
to protect families who live near existing fracking sites.
The EPA proposed the updated safeguards in July 2011. Since the
proposal, environmental groups submitted more than 156,000 comments
and turned out hundreds of supporters of strong standards to
hearings in Pittsburgh, PA, Denver, CO, and Arlington, TX.
In response to EPA’s announcement,
environmental leaders released the following
statements:
“EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is taking an important first step
in closing loopholes for the natural gas industry and addressing
dangerous air quality levels in and near frack-fields across the
country,” said Michael Brune, Executive Director of the
Sierra Club. “The natural gas industry dumps massive
amounts of air pollutants into our air every day, sickening families
and children. An industry that touts its ability to
efficiently drill thousands of wells thousands of feet into the
earth is crying wolf when it claims it can’t build enough tanks to
capture wellhead pollution. It’s time we clean up the natural
gas industry’s dirty and reckless practices.”
"From Colorado to Pennsylvania, the gas industry is making a
killing from drilling, and at the very least they should cut dirty
and dangerous air pollution that threatens our families’ health,”
said John Rumpler, senior attorney for Environment
America. “EPA’s action today is a breath of fresh air
for every man, woman, and child living in the shadow of the gas
drilling boom.”
“Left to its own devices, the oil and gas industry has turned the
clear skies over Wyoming as smoggy as the car-choked highways of Los
Angeles. For decades, industry had a free pollution pass. Thanks to
a court victory, that changes today,” said Earthjustice
President Trip Van Noppen. “There is more work to be done
to protect Americans living near oil and gas fields from cancer and
other unacceptable health threats, but this rule from EPA is an
important first step.”
“The stories of families hurt by gas drilling’s air pollution
were essential to the adoption of these new public health
safeguards,” said Bruce Baizel, senior attorney for
Earthworks. “Hopefully this much-needed first step will
soon be expanded to better protect the families that illustrated the
need for the new rules in the first place.”
"These important rules start to cut down on air pollution that
harms people living near wells, creates smog, and warms the
climate," said David McCabe, senior scientist with Clean Air
Task Force. "They are a solid start, but we need to keep
working to reduce pollution from the gas industry all the way from
the well to the customer. People who live near compressors and
equipment already in use need to see their air cleaned up as well.
Unfortunately these rules won't do that."
“Our members in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Colorado have suffered
because state regulators haven’t acted to control oil and gas
operations, so these standards are a win-win-win,” said Lynn
Thorp, Clean Water Action National Campaigns Director.
“They protect people from air pollution, help curb climate change
and save the industry money. People expect the federal government to
use their authority to protect their health, their drinking water
and the air they breathe and this is a good first step.”
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