American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2016 - 19

example, one gas plant was measured
five times, with one outlier measurement
that occurred during a scheduled
maintenance event. We look forward to
the results from NOAA and the
universities to provide a more complete
picture of methane in the area."
NMOGA President Steve Henke
maintains, "NASA's assessment . . .
addressed a limited set of methane
sources. It has been known by the states
and tribes in the Four Corners that
natural methane seeps occur throughout
the area from the Fruitland formation
outcrop. Also, the topography of the
area traps air and causes methane to
build over time, whether from human or
natural sources." ❒

Misgivings By SAB
About Fracturing Study
Unfounded, IPAA Says
WASHINGTON-The final critique
of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's hydraulic fracturing study by
its Science Advisory Board is
questionable, warns Independent
Petroleum Association of America
Executive Vice President Lee Fuller in
an Aug. 16 letter to EPA Administrator
Gina McCarthy.
The SAB's lukewarm support for the
analysis's top-line conclusion has no
basis in fact, he contends, writing,
"Despite producing four drafts coming
in at almost 200 pages each, not once
has the SAB ever pointed to any
evidence that contradicts EPA's finding
that hydraulic fracturing has 'not led to
widespread, systemic impacts' on
drinking water resources. Therefore, the
SAB ultimately was not able to justify
officially asking EPA to change or
eliminate its top-line finding in its final
recommendations."
Fuller says it "borders on the absurd"
for SAB to suggest EPA ought to
somehow demonstrate hydraulic
fracturing does not cause widespread,
systemic impacts on drinking water. "In
other words, SAB is asking EPA to
prove a negative," Fuller declares. "The
fact EPA spent five years gathering data
and information and, in that time, could
find nothing to support widespread or
systemic impacts on underground
sources of drinking water is indeed
evidence of absence. Importantly, the
SAB itself has provided no evidence to
contradict EPA's top-line finding."
Energy in Depth points out that
SAB's misgivings about the study are
far from unanimously shared by its

members, citing a dissent joined by four
members of the 30-member panel. EID
quotes their opinion that the conclusion
in EPA's draft report "is clear,
unambiguous, concise, and does not
need to be changed or modified."
Press accounts indicate SAB's
assessment describes EPA's fracturing
study as "comprehensive, but lacking in
several critical areas," and calls on the
agency to provide "quantitative analysis
that supports its conclusions." ❒

USFWS Sets Priorities
For Listing Decisions
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service has announced a new
methodology for prioritizing Endangered
Species Act status reviews, which it says
will place each pending review in one of
five priority categories, or bins, "based
on the available biological data, threats
to the species, conservation efforts
planned or under way that can address
those threats, and the existence of any
new or developing science that can help
inform the status review."
BLM says the new regulation was
published in the July 27 Federal
Register and may be viewed at
https://federalregister.gov/publicinspection.
The five prioritization bins, in order,
are:
* Highest priority is given to species
that appear to be critically imperiled and
in need of immediate action.
* The second category is species for
which USFWS has strong scientific data
supporting a clear decision.
* The third bin is species for which
important emerging science is under
way to answer key questions that may
influence the finding, indicating
uncertainty whether species' status can
be resolved in a reasonable time frame.
* Category four is species for which
proactive conservation efforts by states,
landowners and stakeholders are under
way or being developed. These
conservation efforts should be
organized and likely to reduce threats to
the species.
* Last are species for which there is
little information on status and threats.
USFWS points out the new
methodology applies only to
determining whether to list species as
threatened or endangered. "Actions to
remove species from the lists are funded
separately and remain high priorities,"
the agency says.
The Independent Petroleum

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SEPTEMBER 2016 19
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