A new effort in Congress to protect water and rural livelihoods in oil and gas-producing areas deserves the support of the North Dakota delegation.

Bills were introduced in both houses of Congress on June 9 to lift the veil of secrecy about hydraulic fracturing fluids, which are increasingly used for oil and gas production in 34 states, including North Dakota.

The bill's sponsors are Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.).

The bills would overturn a 2005 exemption to the Safe Water Drinking Act, and require public disclosure of chemicals used by oil and gas companies in hydraulic fracturing.

The exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act, enacted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, has become known as the "Halliburton loophole," because Halliburton developed the technique of hydraulic fracturing and remains one of the three largest manufacturers of fracturing fluids.

In effect, the exemption allows companies to inject into the ground hazardous materials that can pollute drinking water without any public disclosure or regulation. Despite the secrecy, it is commonly known that hydraulic fracturing typically uses such toxins as benzene and toluene to free oil and gas from shale formations.

There is no reason oil and gas companies should not comply with the same standards as other industries when it comes to protecting drinking water.

You don't want to drink these toxins, and the Safe Drinking Water Act sets nationwide tolerance levels for them in drinking water.

If the fracturing fluids are not entering wells used for drinking water, or if the fluids are harmless, the industry should not balk at disclosing what they are.

North Dakota's rural population is heavily dependent on well water, and if its purity is threatened, so is the livelihood of those like me who live and work on the land. We should be able to rely on our government to regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing fluids in order to protect public health.

That's why Dakota Resource Council supports this important legislation. Please call on our elected representatives in Washington to do the same.

(Tom Irgens is a member of the Dakota Resource Council's oil and gas task force.)