A number of groups in Ohio are urging lawmakers to consider strengthening a bill that would impose certain regulations on fracking operations in the state.

Environment Ohio, the Ohio Environmental Council and the Sierra Club want more stringent regulations placed on operators, according to The News Leader.

"State regulators expect more than 2,000 shale wells to be fracked in the next three years in Ohio, but state lawmakers may be leaving only 72 more hours to get the protections right," director of legal affairs for the Ohio Environmental Council Trent Dougherty told the news source. "Our lawmakers should take their time, because Ohio still doesn't have adequate safeguards in place -- not by a long shot."

Fracking, formally known as hydraulic fracturing, has sparked controversy in a number of states as some residents claim that the technique - which involves the pumping of millions of gallons of sand-and-chemical-laced water underground to access shale gas - can contaminate groundwater. However, a number of studies have shown that fracking itself does not contaminate water.

Still the process produces an extraordinary amount of wastewater, presenting drillers - and the municipalities in which they operate - with the problem of disposing of it. Some drillers treat the water with chemicals designed to neutralize drilling mud additives and other harmful chemicals and reuse it, while others dispose of it in underground injection wells.

In part due to these concerns states like Ohio are beginning to watch the industry more closely, but the efforts of lawmakers don't always match the wishes of environmentalists.

Specifically, environmental groups in Ohio are hoping that the bill - which is in the state House, having already passed through the Senate - will let officials shut down operations that pose immediate danger to public health and safety, allow citizens to appeal drilling permit decisions, increase water sampling near oil and gas operations and increase disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking.

This last provision is a point of contention for the Ohio State Medical Association. According to the OSMA, the bill would allow doctors access to the chemical mixes used in fracturing but in some instances would not let them share this information with the public.

The Associated Press reports that the association is hoping that lawmakers will allow them to share the information with certain health agencies.

"Doctors are permitted to get that information, which is a good thing," OSMA's senior director of government relations Tim Maglione told the AP. "But the second provision says you can't do anything else with it. So what we're asking is for clarification."

Posted on May 23rd, 2012 under Industrial Uses, Wastewater News, Water Regulations