mr. lomax: yes. representative tonko: is that correct? mr. lomax: yes, sir. mr. we should now trust the results of these studies because the work is financed by groups opposed to fracking. founded by the independent petroleum association of america along with financial support from the american petroleum institute, the a.p.i., chevron, shell, b.p. and other oil and gas companies. by your logic, we should not trust energy in depth either when energy in depth was launched by ipaa in june of 2009, they sent out a letter announcing its launch. the letter said and i quote energyindepth.org, a resource center to combat new environmental regulations especially with regard to hydraulic fracturing. in a paper by one of your colleagues, chris tucker published last year, he described how energy and depth helps to combat the opponents of hydraulic fracturing. he wrote, and i quote, the e.i.d. teams also helped generate and guide stories behind the scenes. this year alone, the number of news stories influenced was in the hundreds. close quote. he goes on to say they regularly

mr. lomax: yes. representative tonko: is that correct? mr. lomax: yes, sir. mr. tonko: we should now trust the results of these studies because the work is financed by groups opposed to fracking. founded by the independent petroleum association of america along with financial support from the american petroleum institute, the a.p.i., chevron shell, b.p. and other oil and gas companies. by your logic, we should not trust energy in depth either when energy in depth was launched by ipaa in june of 2009, they sent out a letter announcing its launch. the letter said and i quote energyindepth.org, a resource center to combat new environmental regulations especially with regard to hydraulic fracturing. in a paper by one of your colleagues, chris tucker, published last year, he described how energy and depth helps to combat the opponents of hydraulic fracturing. he wrote, and i quote, the e.i.d. teams also helped generate and guide stories behind the scenes. this year alone, the number of news stories influenced was in the hundreds. close quote. he goes on to say they re

mr. lomax? >> chairman smith, ranking member johnson members of the committee, good morning, and thank you for inviting me to testify. my name is simon lomax and i'm representing energy in depth an outreach program of the independent petroleum association of america. the ipaa represents thousands of oil and natural gas producers and companyies who develop 95% of the nation's oil and gas wells. today energy in depth is releasing a paper called a look inside new york's fracking echo chamber. it deals with the decision of the governor to ban shale development in the empire state through a ban on so-called high volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for short. according to "the wall street journal," new york is the first state with significant gas resources to ban fracking. governor cuomo's decision was at odds with earlier findings from state and federal regulators that hydraulic fracturing has been used safely in the united states for decades. in fact, governor cuomo's decision overturned two e

and mr. lomax mr. lomax knows that we have been having a discussion in colorado on a pretty heated basis whether it should be local government state government, or federal government. colorado, similar to taxes it, it is the state government basically that has the final say. our colorado oil and gas commission that is generally where i have been we cannot ignore the potential for dangers. we as policymakers have to recognize dangers. i am looking at oklahoma. there is an article yesterday were the oklahoma geological survey said, we are worried about seismic problems. they attribute it to the deep wastewater injection wells. and in colorado we have had you know, some seismic activity that ordinarily is not something we haven't colorado. we want that to be only in oregon. people come to colorado because there worried about oregon. [laughter] so i would say -- would like to ask a question. so take a look into what you do at edf what you did formerly within the administration. and my interaction trying to

before working at energy, mr. lomax working -- and energy and environmental reporter at bloomberg news and senior editor at argus media, inc. our final witness mr. holstein. prior to joining the environmental defense fund he was a senior advisor to the obama presidential campaign on energy and environmental policy matters and codirector of the transition team. among many other roles he has held the position of assistant secretary of the national, oceanic and atmospheric administration and chief of staff at the u.s. department of energy. we appreciate all of you being here today and we look forward to your testimony. ms. craddick: good morning. my name is christi craddick and is chairman, i appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony at today's hearing. this is an important issue with a direct impact on texas today as well as other states affecting thousands of jobs across the country. since hydraulic fracturing has become a widely used practice it has been surrounded by misinformation and propagated the groups more

. >> i am just going to crystalize an important point that mr. lomax is making. we believe the set of rules that the states of colorado has put into effect last year are among the most progressive and comprehensive in the nation in terms of the range of issues that they develop. they're delighted to partner with the three largest oil and gas developers in the state to come together a consensus that led to that comprehensive new set of rules. what brought everyone to the table is colorado communities were adopting were considering bans, putting them on the ballot. there were headlines across the state whether or not oil and gas development including hydraulic fracturing would be permitted in the state's. so why point out of concern that leads to a bay and you need to take an aggressive action to address the issues >> the gentleman from ohio is recognized. >> i live in the very rich region of eastern and southeastern ohio hydraulic fracturing is a process with the implications we are concerned about the issues a day is there some confusion earthquakes are caused by