Yesterday, the United States Senate voted overwhelmingly against an amendment offered by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) that would have paved the way for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate hydraulic fracturing.  This vote was important because it was the first time in years that the Senate had voted on the question of whether EPA should be able to regulate hydraulic fracturing. 

IPAA spearheaded the industry's lobbying efforts against this unwarranted amendment and secured an overwhelming bipartisan victory.  In addition to direct contact with Senate offices, IPAA's lobbying team coordinated efforts among other federal trade associations, state cooperating associations and individual companies to ensure that key senators understood the importance of defeating this amendment.   

The amendment failed by a vote of 35-63, with two senators not voting.  All of the Senate Republicans present voted against the amendment in addition to a number of Senate Democrats, including:  Sens. Bennet (CO), Heinrich (NM), Heitkamp (ND), Kaine (VA), Manchin (WV), McCaskill (MO), Tester (MT), Udall (NM) and Warner (VA).  The full Senate vote record can be found on the Senate website.  

The amendment was added to the vote list near the end of negotiations.  As such, there was little time to organize making the ultimate vote all the more encouraging.  While Sen. Gillibrand's floor comments targeted the "Halliburton Loophole" the actual amendment text made no mention of hydraulic fracturing – only storage of natural gas.  The amendment would have potentially upset the state/ federal regulatory balance of energy regulation by giving EPA authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing under the SDWA UIC program – a regulatory structure that is inconsistent with hydraulic fracturing. Additionally, the amendment reversed an exclusion from the UIC program for the underground storage of natural gas and makes it explicitly part of the underground injection definition.

IPAA will continue its work to educate on the necessary state/federal environmental regulatory balance to ensure that American oil and natural gas is produced in an efficient, environmentally sound manner.  As part of that effort, Energy In Depth has published a blog post on the amendment.  Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Barry Russell

President and CEO

IPAA