Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton plans to eliminate a decade-old provision that exempts fracking from government environmental regulations if she is elected president in November, while hedging on whether she would actually ban the drilling practice.
Trevor Houser, Clinton’s energy adviser, told a policy forum held on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention Wednesday that removing the so-called “Halliburton loophole” will be a priority under a Clinton administration.
The provision was enacted in 2005 during the Republican President George W. Bush’s administration. Named for the energy services firm that former Vice President Dick Cheney once headed, it was included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to ensure the company, which the New York Times said invented fracking, that the practice wouldn’t be regulated.
“Congress stripped [the Environmental Protection Agency] of its authorities to protect communities under the Safe Drinking Water Act, something called the ‘Halliburton loophole,'” Houser said at the Politico event in Philadelphia. “We give EPA, under our landmark environmental laws, the ability to protect communities from environmental threats. And there should not be a big exemption when it comes to hydraulic fracturing. So that’s our primary focus, on getting that loophole closed and reinstating that authority.”
Fracking, or hydraulic fracking, is the practice by which sand and mostly water are injected into large rock formations deep underground to release vast quantities of oil and natural gas. The practice has made the U.S. a global leader in fossil fuel production.
Environmentalists, with supporters of Clinton’s Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, have been pressuring Clinton to ban the practice. She has hedged on whether or not she would institute a complete ban, saying in March that “by the time we get through all of my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place.”
The Democratic National Convention’s platform gives states and local communities the ability to ban fracking if they believe the practice threatens them.
“We believe hydraulic fracturing should not take place where states and local communities oppose it,” the platform reads, while echoing Houser’s statement on closing the loophole.
“Democrats are committed to closing the Halliburton loophole that stripped the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to regulate hydraulic fracturing, and ensuring tough safeguards are in place, including Safe Drinking Water Act provisions, to protect local water supplies,” the platform reads.
