U.S. EPA releases draft plan for fracking study

* Draft plan to be reviewed by EPA science panel

* EPA to issue initial results of study by end of 2012

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - U.S. environmental regulators
issued a draft plan on Tuesday outlining how they will
determine whether a technique for drilling natural gas harms
supplies of drinking water.

Congress commissioned the Environmental Protection Agency
to study hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", after complaints
that the process pollutes water. The EPA is slated to make
public initial results of the study by the end of next year.

The study will investigate reported instances of drinking
water contamination in three to five sites across the country
where fracking has occurred, the agency said in the draft. (To
see the draft plan, click: link.reuters.com/wyq87r )

In addition, the EPA will conduct two to three prospective
case studies, to take samples before, during and after water
extraction, drilling and production of gas.

During fracking, drillers blast pressurized water and
chemicals deep underground to break rocks and release gas or
oil from coal beds, shales and tight sands.

The technique has been around for decades, but companies
have expanded its use in recent years to extract abundant but
hard-to-reach reserves of shale gas.

Congressman Ralph Hall, chairman of the House Committee on
Science, Space and Technology, said in a statement that he
would closely review the study because he felt fracking had
been the subject of "misleading attacks".

"Natural gas is a vital resource, and hydraulic fracturing
is a well-established process that is enabling greatly
increased production of clean, affordable energy," he said.

The EPA's science advisory board plans to review the draft
on March 7 and 8, and the public will be able to comment on the
plan during that time.

Several U.S. cities have begun to take action on fracking.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York have
preemptively banned the process. [ID:nN08187507]
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Dale Hudson)