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WaterNews for July 27, 2001WaterNews is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water.
Inside this week's WaterNews:
1) EPA Releases New Data on Coal Remining
1) EPA Releases New Data on Coal Remining In an effort to reduce environmental damage from acid mine drainage, the agency is taking comment on new data concerning "remining" practices that retrieve coal from abandoned mines. In April 2000, EPA proposed changes to current discharge guidelines for mines, to encourage the extraction of coal from abandoned mine lands while reducing the pollution caused by acid mine drainage. The proposal would significantly increase the rate at which abandoned mine lands are reclaimed, improving water quality and removing hazardous conditions while utilizing remaining coal. The notice of data availability will be published next week, and the comment period will extend for 30 days. More information on the proposed rule is available at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/guide/coal/. 2) EPA Seeks Information on Groundwater Contamination As part of its study of the potential water quality impacts of an oil and gas industry practice, EPA is calling for information on incidents of groundwater contamination possibly due to hydraulic fracturing of coalbed methane wells. Hydraulic fracturing is a procedure used in oil and gas production, in which a fracture is created to increase the rate of flow to oil or gas production wells. In 1998, state oil and gas agencies reported through a Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) survey that hydraulic fracturing had not caused contamination of underground sources of drinking water. As a follow-up to the GWPC survey, EPA is issuing this call for information in order to find whether other agencies, such as local drinking water suppliers and public health departments, may know of incidents of which state oil and gas agencies are unaware. The call for information will be published next week, and will extend for 30 days. For information on EPA's hydraulic fracturing study, go to http://www.epa.gov/safewater/uic/cbmstudy.html.
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