[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13982-13983]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            MARCELLUS SHALE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Richardson). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I am here today to speak 
about an incredible opportunity which is in the northeastern part of 
the United States, and that is the Marcellus shale natural gas. The 
Marcellus shale describes a natural gas play in Pennsylvania that has 
created jobs and economic growth, even in the most difficult of 
economic times. It is one of the largest deposits of natural gas in the 
world, and much of it is located in my district. However, the play is 
deep down and requires a process called fracking, in which water, sand,

[[Page 13983]]

and approved chemicals are pressured into the play to fracture the 
shale to release the gas. Now it is this process that has come under 
criticism and has been the subject of a great deal of inaccurate 
information both in the media and a so-called documentary called 
``Gasland.''
  Fracking has been used for 100 years, hydro-fracking for 60 years. 
The safety is documented with zero confirmed cases of groundwater 
contamination in 1 million applications over that 60 years. The 
director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's 
Bureau of Oil and Gas Management said that he has never seen an impact 
to fresh groundwater directly from fracking.
  Another piece of incorrect information is that no one knows what goes 
into fracking fluid. Well, first of all, more than 99.5 percent of the 
fluid is sand and water. For the remainder, Pennsylvania law requires 
companies to disclose all chemicals used in the fracking process, just 
not the specific formula. A complete list of those chemicals is 
available on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection 
Web site. They include materials that help deliver the water down the 
well bore and position the sand in the tiny fractures created in the 
formation.

                              {time}  1940

  One of the more prominent substances is guar gum, most commonly used 
as an emulsifier in ice cream.
  You know, there are contentions that fracking is not well regulated. 
To the contrary, eight Federal and 11 Pennsylvania acts or laws 
regulate the impacts of drilling. The film ``Gasland'' goes so far as 
to assert that ``the 2005 energy bill pushed through Congress by Dick 
Cheney exempts the oil and natural gas industries from the Clean Water 
Act, the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Super Fund 
law, and about a dozen other environmental and Democratic 
regulations.''
  Well, that is patently false. It must comply with all of these laws 
with the caveat that the hydraulic fracturing process was never 
regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act in its 60-year history, and 
that particular energy bill was supported by 74 ``yes'' votes in the 
Senate, including those at the time of Senators Obama and Salazar.
  Most alarmingly, ``Gasland'' has a stunning scene of a man who is 
turning on a tap, sticking a lighter under it and watching it ignite. 
``Gasland'' blames natural gas development for the flaming faucet, but 
the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission wrote: ``Dissolved 
methane in well water appears to be biogenic.'' Madam Speaker, that 
means naturally occurring in origin. ``There are no indications of oil- 
and gas-related impacts to well water.''
  Though perhaps the most telling repudiation of this film comes from 
John Hanger, Secretary John Hanger of the Pennsylvania Department of 
Environmental Protection, who for 10 years was president and CEO of the 
environmental organization called Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future. 
He appears briefly in the film. John Hanger said the film was 
``fundamentally dishonest'' and ``a deliberately false presentation for 
dramatic effect.'' He called the producer a ``propagandist.''
  Now, I am 100 percent behind producing natural gas in a safe and 
environmentally sound way. If there are violations of the rules or 
laws, either State or Federal, we rely on the good offices of the 
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to do whatever is 
necessary to bring enforcement to the situation. They have proven to be 
capable and aggressive.
  Gas drilling creates jobs and economic growth and contributes to our 
energy security in this country. It needs to be done right with 
environmental protection. It doesn't deserve a propaganda film which 
doesn't educate but which serves to simply demonize an industry for 
personal gain and political reasons.

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