Dismay as EPA delays frac report

By Noah Brenner

 17 January 2013 06:31 GMT

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has again delayed release of a controversial report that it claims links hydraulic fracturing to groundwater pollution — one of a handful of fracturing-related ­developments drawing attention in the US.

The report, which has been criticised as flawed by fellow federal agencies as well as industry and state regulators, is awaiting peer review before it becomes final, but the EPA said it will extend the public comment period on the document until September.

The move comes as a recent study of 127 water wells in the Fayetteville shale found no evidence of contamination from hydraulic fracturing.

The US Geological Survey (USGS), failed to find ­elevated chloride levels that are characteristic of fracturing waste water, and found methane levels were the result of natural…

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