Range Letter to EPA Denies Responsibility for Parker County Pollution

Range Resources has written to Al Armendariz in EPA’s Dallas office again asserting that it is not responsible for the groundwater contamination in Parker County.  Range’s letter can be viewed here:  12-27 Armendariz letter.pdf  For my previous posts on this controversy, go here and here.

Range met with EPA staff on December 15, and it says that, as a result of the meeting, Range and EPA agree that “hydraulic fracturing in the Barnett Shale cannot be the cause of natural gas occurring in the domestic water wells identified by the EPA.”  Range also made clear in the letter that, while it was complying with the requirements of EPA’s order, it did not believe that the EPA had authority to issue its order, since Range was not responsible for the pollution and the order was issued “without any prior notice or opportunity for Range to present important objective facts.”