The EPA’s internal watchdog recommended Thursday that it improve oversight of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.
Specifically, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said the agency needs to crack down on the unlicensed use of diesel fuel in fracking and figure out whether to mandate public disclosure of fracking chemicals.
A 2005 federal law greatly limits the EPA’s authority over fracking, but the OIG’s report focuses on two areas where it says the agency can do more under the Safe Drinking Water Act: regulating the use of diesel fuel and considering mandating chemical disclosure.
The EPA lets some states regulate diesel use if their programs are up to federal standards.
“There is evidence that the EPA and primacy states have not been fully successful in their efforts to effectively control the use of diesel fuels for well stimulation,” the OIG said in its Thursday report.