Jul 30, 2013 1 min read

Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday wrote to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarty seeking information related to the agency’s study of hydraulic fracturing and groundwater contamination. The members, including Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, are specifically interested in how EPA’s experiences with site-specific studies at Pavillion, Wyo., Parker County, Texas, and Dimock are shaping the agency’s ongoing and comprehensive hydraulic fracturing study.

Last month, EPA announced it was withdrawing from its four-year study of well water contamination in Pavillion. This withdrawal followed similar retreats in Dimock and in Parker County. In all three cases, EPA asserted its jurisdiction to investigate alleged water contamination only to later abandon the investigation and let the states take control.

The committee leaders are asking EPA to answer a series of questions by Aug. 13 to better understand the decisions to insert itself and then later close these inquiries, how these cases are informing the broader hydraulic fracturing study, and the current status of the comprehensive study.