Last month, WildEarth Guardians led a coalition of environmental, health, and community advocates in calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw from an illegal agreement with the State of New Mexico that threatens to pave the way for fracking wastewater to be dumped into streams and drinking water.
Sadly, the EPA dismissed our call. In a curt response, the agency simply stated, “The EPA does not intend to take such actions at this time.”
While the Trump Administration is shamelessly in the pocket of the oil and gas industry, even this response comes as a surprise. The EPA made no attempt to even address our core concerns and offered no explanation for maintaining the illegal agreement.
It’s telling the EPA even refused to talk to journalists about the matter. The lack of transparency and accountability to the American public is galling.
The rejection means the EPA is going to continue plotting with New Mexico and the oil and gas industry to find ways to dump toxic wastewater into our water systems. As we mentioned before, the EPA’s true agenda seems to be to rolling back health and safety standards so the fracking industry can more easily and cheaply dispose of its waste.
With the EPA’s latest cursory and dismissive response to our legitimate concerns, the agency only seems to be confirming it has no interest in being transparent with the American public or in safeguarding our clean water from the oil and gas industry.
