Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially rejected the “Keep It In the Ground” campaign and confirmed in a landmark report that fracking does not pose a serious or widespread risk to groundwater. In response, North Texans for Natural Gas spokesman Steve Everley released the following statement:

After five years of study, EPA found nothing to substantiate the claim that fracking causes widespread water contamination. With the release of this report, we can finally put to rest the idea that fracking poses a serious risk to groundwater. For years, the American people have suffered under a barrage of false information about fracking, none more damaging than the baseless accusation that it was polluting groundwater all over the country. Today’s report from EPA confirms that those claims were nothing more than manufactured talking points designed to frighten the public.

 

The “Keep It In the Ground” campaign likes to accuse others of denying science. If they continue their campaign against fracking after the release of this report, there is no label for them other than “science deniers.”

EPA’s report, the most complete compilation of scientific data on hydraulic fracturing to date, was the result of more than five years of study. It incorporated data and research from more than 950 sources of information, including countless peer-reviewed studies and expert analyses.

Earlier this year, more than 1,000 members of North Texans for Natural Gas contacted the EPA and urged it to stick to sound science and keep its data-based conclusion, in response to an attempt by the “Keep It In the Ground” campaign to overturn EPA’s science-based conclusion that fracking had not led to “widespread, systemic” impacts on groundwater.