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June 9, 2009 For Immediate Release: Hunting and Fishing Group Backs Bill to Protect Water WASHINGTON Sportsmen applauded legislation introduced today to regulate a controversial energy industry drilling practice suspected of contaminating ground water. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo. and Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., would require the energy industry to reveal the chemical contents of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, fluids used to fill fissures in rock formations and force oil or natural gas from wells. The legislation would end energy industry exemptions under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and help protect drinking water on the surface and underground that humans and wildlife depend on. If they wont tell us what chemicals theyre putting in our water, it makes you wonder if they have something to hide, said Brad Powell, energy policy director for Trout Unlimited. Trout Unlimited is a partner in Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development with the National Wildlife Federation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and scores of other organizations, businesses and individual hunters and anglers nationwide. Were already seeing the impacts on people from tainted groundwater in the gas fields of Colorado and Wyoming, Powell said. Theres no telling how the industrys chemicals are affecting our fish and game populations. The Safe Drinking Water Act is one of our countrys bedrock environmental laws and it was enacted to protect one of our fundamental natural resources, Powell said. Requiring the energy industry to meet the same water-quality standards as other businesses isnt asking too much. # # # Contact: Brad Powell, Trout Unlimited, 928-300-5451, BPowell@tu.org Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development is a coalition led by Trout Unlimited, the National Wildlife Federation and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership dedicated to protecting irreplaceable habitat so future generations can hunt and fish on public lands. |