For Immediate Release March 27, 2013

Ed Rendells Fracking Regulations Led To One of the Largest Drinking Water Failures 5 Things Governor Cuomo and New Yorkers Should Know about Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, A Gas Industry Lobbyist
1. Ed Rendell promotes fracking, yet as Governor of Pennsylvania he presided over what the EPA calls "one of the largest failures in U.S. history to supply clean drinking water to the public" due in part to fracking. In 2008, the city of Pittsburgh advised residents to drink bottled water for weeks because of high levels of radiation in the drinking water source that was a result of fracking wastewater disposal. A 2011 USGS study determined that the wastewater that was being disposed into Pennsylvania drinking water supplies is 3,609 times more radioactive than the federal limit and greater than 300 times more radioactive than a Nuclear Regulatory Commission limit. Similarly, the National Academy of Science details significant surface water impacts in Pennsylvania as a result of fracking. 2. Rendell's oversight of fracking in Pennsylvania has resulted in many documented cases of water contamination and sick families. A rapidly growing "List of the Harmed" now includes more than 1,100 people who have experienced ill effects of fracking. The number of additional cases hidden by non-disclosure agreements and secret settlements remains unknown. 3. In Ed Rendells Daily News op-ed urging New York Governor Cuomo to allow fracking ("Why Cuomo must seize the moment on hydrofracking"), he disingenuously neglect to disclose that he has a financial stake in fracking and has lobbied for the natural gas industry. According to a February, 2013 Public Accountability Initiative report ("Fracking and the Revolving Door in Pennsylvania"), Rendell is "a partner in a private equity firm invested in fracking services companies and recently lobbied on behalf of driller Range Resources". 4. In 2011, shortly after his tenure as Governor ended, Rendell intervened on behalf of the gas industry in an EPA investigation and lawsuit against Range Resources for water contamination in Texas. According to an E&E News investigation from information obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, Rendell lobbied EPA Administrator LisaJackson as a "spokesman for Range [Resources]" according to an email from an EPA attorney. Reportedly, Rendells influence helped lead to both the lawsuit and investigation being dropped. EPA Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins Jr., has an ongoing investigation into the case in Texas. 5. Rendell cites an economics reports by IHS Global Insight, which is funded by the natural gas industry including the American Petroleum Institute and the Natural Gas Supply Association. Its

projections are exaggerated and based off inflated gas reserve assumptions and the report's conclusions do not align with independent studies and expert economic analyses. ###