API President Jack Gerard comments on hydraulic fracturing

Cathy Landry | 202.682.8122 | landryc@api.org

WASHINGTON, January 20, 2010 - American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard issued the following statement following discussion during the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing about the need for federal regulation of the practice of hydraulic fracturing:

“As Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said just last week, hydraulic fracturing is safe and lawmakers should be cautious in their efforts to restrict it. Hydraulic fracturing is a proven technology that has been used safely in this country for 60 years. It is crucial in the development of clean-burning natural gas needed to heat and cool homes, generate electricity, and create basic materials for fertilizers and plastics. More than one million wells have been completed in the United States using this technology, helping to produce more than 7 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Unnecessary additional regulation of this practice would only kill jobs, threaten our economy and hamper our nation’s energy security. Studies estimate up to 80 percent of natural gas wells drilled in the next decade will require hydraulic fracturing.”