"A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no
evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up
to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania
drilling site," Kevin Begos reports for The Associated Press. "Researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas
trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the
shallower areas that supply drinking water." It was the first time a drilling company had allowed government scientists to conduct such an experiment.
Researchers monitored the site for a year, using drilling fluids tagged with markers that were injected more than 8,000 feet below the surface, but were not detected in a monitoring zone 3,000 feet higher, Begos reports. "That means the potentially dangerous substances stayed about a mile away from drinking water supplies."
During the study "eight new Marcellus Shale horizontal wells were monitored seismically and one was injected with four different man-made tracers at different stages of the fracking process, which involves setting off small explosions to break the rock apart," Begos reports. "The scientists also monitored a separate series of older gas wells that are about 3,000 feet above the Marcellus to see if the fracking fluid reached up to them." Most gas wells are more than a mile underground, while drinking water aquifers are usually 500 to 1,000 feet below the surface. (Read more)
Researchers monitored the site for a year, using drilling fluids tagged with markers that were injected more than 8,000 feet below the surface, but were not detected in a monitoring zone 3,000 feet higher, Begos reports. "That means the potentially dangerous substances stayed about a mile away from drinking water supplies."
During the study "eight new Marcellus Shale horizontal wells were monitored seismically and one was injected with four different man-made tracers at different stages of the fracking process, which involves setting off small explosions to break the rock apart," Begos reports. "The scientists also monitored a separate series of older gas wells that are about 3,000 feet above the Marcellus to see if the fracking fluid reached up to them." Most gas wells are more than a mile underground, while drinking water aquifers are usually 500 to 1,000 feet below the surface. (Read more)
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