Washington, D.C. – Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today released the following statement after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its long-awaited assessment on the potential impacts to drinking water resources from hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking.” The assessment shows that “hydraulic fracturing activities have not led to widespread, systemic impacts to drinking water resources.”

Chairman Smith: “As experts have testified before the Science Committee for years, there is no evidence that hydraulic fracturing has caused ground water contamination. The EPA has spent millions of taxpayers’ dollars only to conclude what state regulators have known for years. Local communities across the country have been inundated with misinformation from alarmists. Hydraulic fracturing has allowed this country to develop natural gas at a level no one ever thought possible.  Safe and efficient energy production has resulted in a resurgence in manufacturing, created millions jobs and allowed the US to be less reliant on foreign energy. It’s reassuring to have facts based on good science and not the science fiction of alarmists.”