Underground inject
Underground injection control
The 1974 act authorized EPA to regulate injection wells in order to protect underground sources of drinking water. Congress amended the SDWA in 2005 to exclude hydraulic fracturing, an industrial process for recovering oil and natural gas, from coverage under the UIC program. This exclusion has been called the "Halliburton Loophole" after the company formerly led by former vice-president Richard Cheney. Halliburton is the world's largest provider of hydraulic fracturing services. ]
The Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act (H.R. 2766, S. 1215) would have repealed the exemption for hydraulic fracturing in the SDWA and regulated the oil and natural gas recovery process under the UIC program. The bill did not pass. See "proposed amendments" below for details.