EPA Must Stop Allowing Industry to Destroy Potential Groundwater Sources

Almost half of the U.S. population depends on groundwater for drinking water. Groundwater in the United States is protected by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Among other things, this law is designed to prevent the oil, gas, and nuclear industries from using underground drinking water sources—known as aquifers—as a place to dump potentially harmful chemicals and waste through a process called underground injection. But a little-known program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is exempting large swaths of the nation’s aquifers from this important law, and endangering drinking water sources.

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