Marine Pollution ControlMarine Pollution Control
8631 West Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48209 USA
313.849.2333 - 24/hour

11320 E Lakewood Blvd., #11
Holland, MI 49424
800-521-8232 – 24/Hour

GSA Contract #: GS-10F-0268R
Need help using GSA?  Click here.

Report chastises U.S. EPA for retreat on Range pollution charges

December 26, 2013
 
(Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was criticized in an internal report for dropping charges that Range Resources Corp was polluting drinking water while "fracking" for natural gas.
 
Range is using the hydraulic fracturing technique in Parker County, Texas where one homeowner complained in August 2010 that he could set his drinking water on fire.
 
Six U.S. senators had asked the agency's internal watchdog - the Office of the Inspector General - to evaluate a 2012 decision to drop an order that had forced Range to provide drinking water to residents, and stop contamination.
 
The EPA withdrew its order in March of that year after legal action by the company.
 
That decision was in line with its own rules, the report said, but the agency should have been tougher with the company, and more critical of the data it used.