A Critical Assessment of the U.S. Environmental Regulation of Shale Gas Development. What Can Be Learned from the U.S. Experience?

How to Adapt Chemical Risk Assessment for Unconventional Hydrocarbon Extraction Related to the Water System

“…However, at the US federal level, the oil and gas industry, mainly on the basis of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, benefits from exemptions from several major federal environmental statutes, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act (Brady and Crannell 2012). As a result and despite attempts of the US Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act in 2013, operators seeking to conduct hydraulic fracturing are excluded from permitting well construction and chemical disclosure rules at the federal level (Grant 2016). Thus, most relevant regulation of UO&G activities in the USA is to be found at the state level (Brady and Crannell 2012).…”

“…Thus, most relevant regulation of UO&G activities in the USA is to be found at the state level (Brady and Crannell 2012). Indeed, some states (e.g., Pennsylvania and Texas) have adopted general and/or specific regulations on UO&G activities, including risk assessment, permitting systems, rules aiming at groundwater protection, requirements for drilling, well construction (e.g., casing, cementing) and well control, monitoring, and reporting arrangements, as well as obligations to disclose information about chemicals used during the fracturing process (Polishchuk 2017;Grant 2016;Roberson 2012). These regulations can be considered explicit, detailed, and well developed, albeit in some cases unclear and poorly disclosed (Polishchuk 2017).…”