Rep. DeGette pursues hearing, study on `fracking’

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette is moving ahead with her bill to put a widely used oil and gas drilling process under federal oversight while also seeking a study to gather more data on the practice. The Colorado Democrat is sponsoring a bill that would repeal a ban on regulating hydraulic fracturing under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The 2005 energy bill exempted the process, also called “fracking,” from federal oversight. The bill, also sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., is being vigorously opposed by industry groups, which say the technology is used to drill the majority of the country’s oil and gas…

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