On April 12, 2011, at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) called for the establishment of a national safety standard to protect groundwater from being contaminated by potentially-dangerous chemicals used in natural gas hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Under current law, the so-called "Halliburton loophole" exempts fracking operations from the permit requirements in the Safe Drinking Water Act.
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