The US Environmental Protection Agency will issue pre-treatment standards for flowback water from shale gas extraction by 2014, the agency announced on Thursday.
The move is sure to frighten a gas production industry that has resisted almost all forms of federal oversight of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in favor of regulation by individual states.
The EPA's action is separate from its ongoing study of hydraulic fracturing's effects on drinking water. That study is supposed to conclude in 2014 as well.
The EPA said Thursday it was bringing coal bed methane and shale gas production under its effluent guidelines program under the Clean Water Act, which sets national standards for industrial wastewater discharges. The agency has issued regulations for 57 other industries and will now collect data from states, stakeholders and the industry to devise a standard wastewater must meet before it is submitted to a treatment facility, EPA said.
"Currently, wastewater associated with shale gas extraction is prohibited from being directly discharged to waterways and other waters of the US," the EPA's Thursday announcement said.
"While some of the wastewater from shale gas extraction is reused or re-injected, a significant amount still requires disposal," the EPA explained. "As a result, some shale gas wastewater is transported to treatment plants, many of which are not properly equipped to treat this type of wastewater. EPA will consider standards based on demonstrated, economically achievable technologies, for shale gas wastewater that must be met before going to a treatment facility."
The agency said also that it is set to issue national wastewater rules for coal bed methane producers in 2013. The EPA said it can produce the CBM guidelines quicker than the shale standards because it has already done extensive research and data collection in that area.
The head of the Sierra Club's Natural Gas Reform Campaign, Deb Nardone, praised the government's action.
"Proper treatment of this polluted water is vital to ensure clean drinking water for the millions of Americans that share water with the natural gas industry," Nardone said.
