homepage - naturalgas - rulemaking - national water discharge regulations
On March 1, 2010, a broad coalition of environmental groups, led by Earthjustice, urged EPA to expand its study to include wastewater from shale gas, without delaying its regulatory efforts on coalbed methan extraction.
On December 28, 2009, EPA announced that it was conducting an in-depth study of oil and gas drilling wastewater, focusing on discharges from coalbed methane sites to determine whether it should revise its regulations for that discharge. It sought comment on whether it should expand its focus to discharges from all formations, including shales.