The Garden Club of America
National Affairs and Legislation Committee
Barbara Geltosky, Vice Chairman Energy Sources
November 2013

Hydraulic fracturing, which is removal of natural gas and oil from shale deposits deep below the earth’s surface, has had the unfortunate result of turning some of the focus away from renewables to prolong the fossil fuel era in the United States. This fall, the US pushed ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s top producer of natural gas. (Guardian Oct 4,2013)¹ The supposedly “cleaner” fuel has also changed the landscape in natural and wild areas across America. Of particular concern is the potential impact that fracking has on our State lands and National Parks; fracking can have an enormous effect, and vigilance is required to assure that the parks do not fall victim to the economics of shale development as the number of active wells increases on BLM lands adjacent to the parks. ²

“According to a recent National Parks Conservation Association report, shale basins with potential for oil and gas development underlie a large number of national parks. Of the country’s 401 national park units, 131 are located either directly above or less than 25 miles from potential oil and gas deposits.” Some of these parks include include Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Glacier National Park, and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. While fracking is not occurring inside the parks, “The health of a national park depends on what’s happening on the outside of the fence as much as the inside of the fence,” said Jim Nations, NPCA’s vice president of parks research. “National parks are part of the greater landscape, and the health of a national park depends on the health of the lands that surround it”. ³

Potential Impacts:

Consequences of Habitat Fragmentation
Landscape connectivity and mitigation are being studied- for example, animals in the western parks, including elk, mule deer and pronghorn antelopes depend on sage- brush habitats that have been disrupted by fracking. Also affected are migrant bird species such as warblers, thrushes and tanagers. Black bear migration could be affected with construction of proposed gas pipelines in Delaware Water Gap Park⁴

Water Quality/Quantity
Due to the enormous amounts of water used in fracking, the effect on the area can include reduction in stream flow and ground water levels; the process also causes gas to migrate to shallow aquifers. The average amount of water used to frack each well is 5 ½ million gallons of water for each well, each time it is fracked, which can be up to ten times. Of those 5 million gallons, 1/4 to1/2 comes back to the surface contaminated by chemicals. Fracking wastewater is often injected into abandoned mines; this insures that the water will never again be used by humans. In fracking accidents near the Delaware River Basin, there have been hydrochloric acid spills, as well as fracking fluid discharged onto state lands and into streams, resulting in fish and aquatic life kills and contaminated water supplies.

Negative Impact to Park Visitors
Negative impacts include noise pollution from drilling and heavy trucks moving water and equipment. Researchers have found less species diversity among birds and wildlife in areas polluted by the noise of fracking. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, visitors may be unable to hear the bugling of elk, rushing rivers, waterfalls and birdsongs that they travelled to experience, and may turn away from the parks, negatively affecting tourism. Ten story tall drill rigs can be seen from afar, and flaring disrupts the beauty of the night skies, in areas that were formerly star filled vistas. In the park, there are even signs warning tourists of dangerous hydrogen sulfide gases that pollute the air.⁵

What can be done?
In its report, NPCA argues that BLM could help protect national parks by designating the Park Service as a “cooperative agency” under the National Environmental Policy Act whenever there is a reasonable likelihood that a park will be affected by oil and gas activity on BLM land. In September, more than dozen house Democrats urged Secretary Jewell to strengthen the BLM’s draft rule governing fracking on public lands. In addition, BLM “should preemptively protect drinking water, ecologically sensitive areas, and wildlife by carving out areas that are off-limits to hydraulic fracturing.”⁶ “The revised draft rules released by the Bureau of Land Management would for the first time require disclosure of chemicals injected underground on roughly 700 million acres of federal mineral estate, including about 60 million acres underlying private lands.”⁷

Bills in Congress related to fracking include HR 2728, which precludes the BLM from enforcing any federal rules on fracturing in states that have guidance for that activity, potentially giving BLM lands less protection. Other Bills in Congress sponsored by Congressman Matt Cartwright (D PA) and Rep Jared Polis (D CO) are: BREATHE, HR1154 which closes a loophole in the Clean Air Act, FRESHER (HR1175) which closes a loophole in the stormwater permit requirement in the Clean Water Act, and CLEANER (HR2825) closing a loophole in RCRA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (which regulates the handling of toxic chemicals). Senators Bob Casey and Congresswoman Diana De Gette have again sponsored the FRAC Act (S1135 and HR1921) requiring disclosure of fracking chemicals; both bills were referred to Committee. We each need to remain vigilant about the devasting effects that fracking can have on our treasured National Lands and let our legislators know how important it is to preserve the land for generations to come.

¹Goldenberg, Suzanne, “US surpasses Russia as world’s top oil and natural gas producer” October 4,2013, The Guardian
²McArdle, John, ”Groups call for expanded NPS role on frack projects near parks”, June 19, 2013 E and E News
³ibid
⁴“National Parks and Hydraulic Fracturing, Balancing Energy Needs, Nature, and America’s National Heritage,” NPCA Center for Park Research, pgs. 15-16
⁵Roosevelt, Theodore IV, “Preserve our national parks”, August 24, 2013, USA Today
⁶Taylor, Phil, After frank discussion with Jewell, greens call for tougher fracking regs”
September 10, 2013 E and E News
⁷Taylor, Phil, “Committee votes to block BLM fracking rules, advance sweeping forestry bill”, July 31, 2013 E and E News