EPA to Use New Regulations to Prohibit Hydraulic Fracturing?

Last week, while everyone else was talking about the President's long form birth certificate, the EPA was busy releasing new regulations designed to choke off any nascent economic growth that may help to lift the nation out of the great recession. Via the Lonely Conservative, Investors Business Daily warns us all to watch the other hand. Before these new regulations will be enacted a 60 comment period will be granted and the clock is ticking. I wonder how long bin Laden's death will keep our eyes diverted.

Maggie's Notebook has more. As does the Washington Post and the WSJ. Fox Business identifies regulations for water intake at power plants and factories. For now I can find no articles suggesting this power will be used against natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale, common sense tells me it is only a matter of time.

For some perspective, PolitiFact Virginia analyzed a statement by Rep. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Va 9th. He is a staunch opponent to the EPA power grab and stated, "Not even expensive bottled water, like Perrier and Evian, are of good enough quality to pump out of mines in Southwest Virginia, according to EPA regulation." After intense scrutiny politifact scores this statement as barely true. Last time I checked that still means true!

Last month New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman threatened to sue the federal government if it does not decide within 30 days to conduct an environmental review of proposed regulations that would allow natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin. He is wasting his time. The EPA will do all the dirty work for him.

The suit seems rather specious from the get go as a full study was conducted and completed in 2004 and concluded in its executive summary that injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids "poses little or no threat to underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) and does not justify additional study at this time." But hey, that was 6 years ago!

Update:

Welcome Instapundit readers. Stay and look around and if you are interested at all in Marcellus shale drilling check out what Kathyrn Klaber, the face of natural gas, has to say in a thourough interview. Video added of course.

South of 5 and 20, a fellow upstate New York blogger was also kind enough to throw some traffic this way. Take a look at what farmers have to say about these new regs...

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