For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has linked hydraulic fracturing and underground water pollution by concluding contaminants found in a Pavillion, Wyo. aquifer were caused by natural-gas well drilling. EPA officials said in a 121-page draft report yesterday that"the presence of synthetic compounds … and the assortment of other organic components is explained as the result of direct mixing of hydraulic fracturing fluids with ground water in the Pavillion gas field" in Wyoming.
ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative news agency, reports the findings will likely signal a turning point in the debate about whether or not fracking causes water pollution and will likely shape regulations in the Marcellus Shale region in Appalachian states, for example. Writers Abrahm Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz also report EPA's findings "directly contradict longstanding arguments by the drilling industry for why the fracking process is safe," including the belief that hydrologic pressure forces fluids down, deep geologic layers are a barrier that prevents chemicals from moving toward the surface, and problems with barriers around gas wells aren't connected to fracking.
ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative news agency, reports the findings will likely signal a turning point in the debate about whether or not fracking causes water pollution and will likely shape regulations in the Marcellus Shale region in Appalachian states, for example. Writers Abrahm Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz also report EPA's findings "directly contradict longstanding arguments by the drilling industry for why the fracking process is safe," including the belief that hydrologic pressure forces fluids down, deep geologic layers are a barrier that prevents chemicals from moving toward the surface, and problems with barriers around gas wells aren't connected to fracking.
The report set off what will likely become a heated political debate in Congress as legislators consider how to better regulate the industry. After a phone call with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, whose office last year challenged the EPA investigation of Pavilion claiming the agency was biased, told colleagues the draft report is "offensive." (Read more)
In another first for monitoring of gas drilling, Don Hopey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has asked 99 Marcellus Shale drilling and development companies to submit reports on air pollution. The reports will be used in a comprehensive three-year inventory of air pollutants required by EPA. Reports will come from companies involved in all phases of gas drilling, production, transmission and processing. (Read more)
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