This morning NPR had an interview with a L.A. Times writer and a "Whistleblower" EPA environmental scientist about how Halliburton was able to manipulate environmental standards. Halliburton is one of the leaders in fracturing technology for oil drilling. There are questions whether this method threatens to pollute groundwater. The EPA whistleblower said EPA did not follow its standard scientific procedures before the EPA decided to say the method was safe.
Here is a link to the LA Times article: (registration required):
http://www.latimes.com/news/yahoo/la-na-frac14oct14,1,7313508.storyLA Times excerpt:
"Halliburton's Interests Assisted by White House.
The administration has lent support to a lucrative drilling technique. Some in the EPA consider it an environmental concern.
...The technology, known as hydraulic fracturing, boosts gas and oil production and generates $1.5 billion a year for the company, about one-fifth of its energy-related revenue. In recent years, Halliburton and other oil and gas firms have been fighting efforts to regulate the procedure under a statute that protects drinking water supplies. ..the administration has taken steps to keep the practice from being regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which Halliburton has said would hurt its business and add needless costs and bureaucratic delays.
An EPA study concluded ... there was no evidence that hydraulic fracturing posed a threat to drinking water. However, some EPA employees complained about the study internally before its completion, and others have strongly criticized it publicly since its release. One of them, an environmental engineer and 30-year EPA veteran in Denver, last week sought whistle-blower protection in an 18-page statement sent to the agency's inspector general and members of Congress. The statement alleges that the study's findings were premature, may endanger public health and were approved by an industry-dominated review panel that included a current Halliburton employee.
"EPA produced a final report … that I believe is scientifically unsound and contrary to the purposes of the law," Weston Wilson wrote to lawmakers..."