Vermont Considers Fracking Moratorium

(Host) Lawmakers may impose a time-out on a controversial practice used to extract natural gas from the ground.

It's called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The practice has been blamed for water pollution in other states. And a key House committee has voted out a bill that calls for a three-year moratorium on fracking in Vermont.

VPR's John Dillon reports:

(Dillon) Fracking is used to extract natural gas trapped in shale rock formations. But in the process, water and chemicals are injected under pressure into the ground to fracture the rock and release the gas.

(Deen) "The science is very unclear, very murky and what we're talking about here is putting the groundwater at risk."

(Dillon) Westminster Democrat David Deen chairs the House Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources Committee.

Deen says the Legislature has already ruled that groundwater is held in public trust for all Vermonters.

(Deen) "And what that means is that everybody has a right to use it but nobody has the right to deny its use to anybody else. Consequently, any pollution source would not be acceptable under the public trust doctrine."

(Dillon) Deen says the moratorium will give state and federal agencies time to study the issue and come up with new rules to regulate fracking.

A spokesman for the oil and gas industry says the three-year moratorium is acceptable. Joe Choquette represents the American Petroleum Institute.

(Choquette) "We think it's appropriate to take a time-out and let the science catch up. But we would be opposed to an outright ban."

(Dillon) Choquette says Vermont doesn't appear to have the abundant gas-rich shale formations found in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. But some valuable deposits could exist.

(Choquette) "There have been some exploratory wells drilled in the northwest region of the state. They were not drilled for the purpose of looking for shale formations that might produce natural gas. There have been some drilled in Canada, which have proven to be commercially viable. So in areas around the state, there have been some discoveries."

(Dillon) The potential moratorium in Vermont comes as President Obama highlighted the boom in domestic natural gas production in his state of the union speech. The president indicated fracking can be done safely, but he wants gas companies to disclose the chemicals they use to extract gas when they drill on public lands.

In Vermont, the state is revising regulations that cover injection of materials into the ground. Environmental Conservation Commissioner David Mears says other permits may have to be strengthened, as well.

(Mears) "The concern about chemicals released into ground water or frankly surface water are two of the significant concerns around fracking. But there are also air emissions, as well. So we'll be looking at all of those environmental concerns and make sure that the current system that we have in place are sufficient if, in fact, we ever do get a hydro-fracking application."

(Dillon) The fracking moratorium bill is expected to be debated by the full House next week.

For VPR News, I'm John Dillon in Montpelier.