NRC Report Links New Drilling Technology to Earthquakes, Congress Puts Keystone XL Provision Negotiations on Hold

The National Research Council released a report today on the potential of energy technologies to cause seismic activity. Much of the focus of the report is centered on the effects of natural gas drilling through the process of hydraulic fracturing, “an adverse side effect of which is the potential to cause earthquakes” says the NRC in an announcement of the analysis. According to the NRC, the report “examines the scale, scope, and consequences of earthquakes caused by subsurface fluid injection during energy production.” A hearing has been scheduled by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the report.

The immensely heated issue of Keystone XL pipeline provisions on the transportation bill has been temporarily set to the back burner. Congressional leadership currently intends to settle all other policy issues on the transportation bill itself before engaging in negotiations and discussions on the matter of Keystone. The hope is that the rest of the bill will be settled and generally agreed upon before the elephant in the room, and potential deal breaker, is finally dealt with. It is unknown at this point whether the rest of the transportation issues can be settled, so Keystone will take a backseat in the matter until the gist of the bill is agreed upon in order to delay what will surely be the most controversial ingredient in the bill.