If the drilling process is as environmentally safe as you claim, why doesn’t the MSC ask the feds to remove the exemptions from the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Superfund acts? Why were these exemptions sought?

We’ve been asked on occasion whether the natural gas industry — specifically hydraulic fracturing — earned an exemption from a series of federal laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, as part of the bipartisan 2005 energy bill. The short and factual answer is that natural gas development is regulated under a host of state and federal statutes, including the ones listed in this question. This fact sheet lays out in detail the various stages of Marcellus development and the regulations and permits required to perform each stage.

As for the Clean Water Act specifically, hydraulic fracturing has never been regulated under this law. Fracturing, however, is tightly regulated by state environmental agencies. In fact, the bipartisan 2005 energy bill, which simply clarified the scope of the Safe Drinking Water Act as it relates to fracturing (again, that states – not the federal government – regulate this technology) earned the support of 74 U.S. senators [including then-Sen. Barack Obama] and 275 members of the U.S. House, including 75 Democrats.