The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has long had a Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) to advise it. In January 2011, following through on President Obama’s “Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future” (a comprehensive plan to reduce America’s oil dependence, save consumers money, and make our country the leader in clean energy), DOE Secretary Steven Chu created a three-member panel, the “Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Natural Gas Subcommittee,” aka the frack panel. In creating the frack panel, Chu extended membership beyond existing SEAB members to purportedly include the natural gas industry, states, and environmental experts. The frack panel is supported by DOE, the Department of Interior and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In May 2011, Chu expanded the frack panel to seven members.
The frack panel was established to provide recommendations to the SEAB on how to improve the safety and environmental performance of natural gas hydraulic fracturing from shale formations, thereby harnessing a vital domestic energy resource while ensuring the safety of citizens’ drinking water and the health of the environment. The frack panel was charged with two rather daunting mandates and a short timeline: the panel was to recommend to the SEAB how to make shale gas drilling safer, particularly hydraulic fracturing, within 90 days from their first meeting; and to advise other agencies with regard to how they could better protect the environment from shale gas drilling within 180 days from their first meeting.
