Congressman Holden Voted To Deregulate Fracking, Now Says ‘We Need To Keep An Eye On It’

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Congressman Holden Voted To Deregulate Fracking, Now Says ‘We Need To Keep An Eye On It’
Lee Fang - Republic Report
2.29.2012

Last weekend, Congressman Tim Holden sat down for an interview with the Sam Lesante Show to talk about an array of issues facing voters. Holden, a member of the pro-big business Blue Dog coalition of Democrats, faces a primary challenge from the left in his recently redistricted seat in eastern Pennsylvania.

At one point during the discussion, Lesante brought up the controversial horizontal natural gas drilling method known as fracking. Pennslyvania’s Marcellus Shale formation has lured a number of fracking companies to the state. After heavy lobbying, the legislature recently passed a law that removes the right of state cities to prohibit companies from coming in and drilling, while allowing fracking companies to still refuse to disclose some chemicals used in the process.

Holden, who has said his energy policy is simply “drill everywhere,” moderated his response. He compared the process to coal, and said, “We need to keep an eye on it, make sure that we’re regulating, to make sure we’re not contaminating our wells, our streams.” Watch it:

One problem: in 2005, Holden voted for the Energy Bill that exempted the fracking process from federal oversight by removing such drilling methods from the Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption is known as the “Halliburton loophole” because oil and gas interests lobbies heavily to create it. Holden may be calibrating his position on fracking since being redistricted into a more Democratic seat.

Oil and gas interests have donated over $400,000 to Holden over the course of his career.

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper Appears In Pro-Fracking Ad Sponsored By Oil & Gas Industry
Zaid Jilani - Republic Report

The process of hydraulic fracking, or fracking, has come under fire in recent years as it has become apparent that this gas extraction technique poses significant risks to the environment and human health. Facing increasing pressure from environmental watchdogs and community groups, the oil and gas industry has spent millions of dollars to lobby against nationwide regulations on fracking, and gave large payments to former Sen. Rick Santorum while also apparently cooperating with the Koch Brothers.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) is now being prominently featured in a new radio ad promoting fracking. Remarkably, the ad is being sponsored by the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA). In the spot, Hickenlooper praises the industry, the assures the safety of fracking, and boasts of a new disclosure law related to fracking:

HICKENLOOPER: This is Governor John Hickenlooper. In 2008, Colorado passed tough oil and gas rules. Since then, we have not had one instance of groundwater contamination associated with drilling and hydraulic fracking. And we plan to keep it that way. That’s why Colorado recently passed the toughest and fairest hydraulic fracturing disclosure rule in the nation. In Colorado, we’ve proven that industry and the conservation community can come together to solve problems. We can create jobs, promote energy security, and protect our environment. Brought to you by the Colorado Oil & Gas Association.

Listen to the ad here. The spot is particularly remarkable because it is almost unheard of for a sitting governor to appear in a radio commercial sponsored by a certain industry.

“We stand by the ads, and we call them public service announcements,” COGA CEO Tisha Shuller told the Denver Business Journal. Yet 13 Colorado environmental groups don’t view an industry sponsored pro-fracking radio spot to be a public service announcement. They are calling Hickenlooper’s industry-sponsored spot “misleading,” noting that “accidental spills, corroded tanks and pipelines, and leaking containment pits” have indeed contaminated Colorado groundwater in the recent past.

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Congressman Holden Voted To Deregulate Fracking, Now Says ‘We Need To Keep An Eye On It’

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