Hello,
you should look at this piece of information
For the last few years, a
small group of farmers and landowners scattered across this rural Wyoming
basin have complained that their water wells have been contaminated with
chemicals from a controversial drilling technique known as hydraulic
fracturing, or fracking.
A draft report by the Environmental Protection
Agency, issued in December, appeared to confirm their concerns, linking
chemicals in local groundwater to gas drilling.
“These are people that had
good water,” said John Fenton, a barrel-chested farmer and chairman of the
Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens group. “And it changed when there was this
rush to come in here and develop the area when they didn’t understand the
geology.”
Renny MacKay, a spokesman for Mr. Mead, said the governor was
committed to figuring out a long-term fix for about 20 homes whose water was
found to contain contaminants while the source of the pollution is studied.
A draft report by the Environmental Protection Agency, issued in December,
appeared to confirm their concerns, linking chemicals in local groundwater to
gas drilling.
For the last few years, a small group of farmers and
landowners scattered across this rural Wyoming basin have complained that
their water wells have been contaminated with chemicals from a controversial
drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
In the
meantime, the state has offered to provide cisterns for local residents,
using $750,000 allocated by the Wyoming Legislature this year. Under the
plan, people here would still have to pay a fee to have their water hauled
from the nearby community of Pavillion, at a cost that could run more than
$150 per month.
“Until there is a peer-reviewed study and a good scientific
basis that indicates that the issues related to water are related to our
operations, that is not something we are ready to address,” said Doug Hock,
an Encana spokesman.
;
However, This article is uncomplete:
Mr. Hock said it should have come as no
surprise that the E.P.A.’s two monitoring wells showed high levels of methane
and benzene because they were drilled deep into a natural gas field.
But
here on the front lines of the battle over fracking, which has become an
increasingly popular technique to extract previously unobtainable reserves of
oil and gas, no conclusion is yet definitive.
“I’d like to have the
industry held accountable for once,” said Jeff Locker, a hay and barley
farmer who said that his well water had gone bad around the mid-’90s and that
the contaminants had contributed to his wife’s neuropathy. “We’ve got
scientific proof. And they’re still turning their back on us. They expect us
to pay between $100 and $200 for something we didn’t cause. It gets under my
skin.”
Renny MacKay, a spokesman for Mr. Mead, said the governor was
committed to figuring out a long-term fix for about 20 homes whose water was
found to contain contaminants while the source of the pollution is studied.
“Until there is a peer-reviewed study and a good scientific basis that
indicates that the issues related to water are related to our operations,
that is not something we are ready to address,” said Doug Hock, an Encana
spokesman.
“Until there is a peer-reviewed study and a good scientific
basis that indicates that the issues related to water are related to our
operations, that is not something we are ready to address,” said Doug Hock,
an Encana spokesman.
After an outcry from Wyoming’s governor, Matt Mead,
and the energy industry that the federal report was premature and
inconclusive, more testing was conducted by the United States Geological
Survey and is being processed. The E.P.A. is also in the midst of collecting
additional water samples for study.
“I’d like to have the industry held
accountable for once,” said Jeff Locker, a hay and barley farmer who said
that his well water had gone bad around the mid-’90s and that the
contaminants had contributed to his wife’s neuropathy. “We’ve got scientific
proof. And they’re still turning their back on us. They expect us to pay
between $100 and $200 for something we didn’t cause. It gets under my skin.”
A draft report by the Environmental Protection Agency, issued in December,
appeared to confirm their concerns, linking chemicals in local groundwater to
gas drilling.
But here on the front lines of the battle over fracking,
which has become an increasingly popular technique to extract previously
unobtainable reserves of oil and gas, no conclusion is yet definitive.
In
the meantime, the state has offered to provide cisterns for local residents,
using $750,000 allocated by the Wyoming Legislature this year. Under the
plan, people here would still have to pay a fee to have their water hauled
from the nearby community of Pavillion, at a cost that could run more than
$150 per month.
But some locals say the draft report’s analysis of water
samples, which identified synthetic chemicals consistent with natural gas
drilling and hydraulic fracturing fluids, is proof of what they suspected for
years.
Encana has maintained that water in the area is naturally poor and
that its operations did not cause the problems — fracking had also occurred
before the company purchased the gas field. Moreover, the energy industry has
steadfastly pointed out that there has never been any conclusive link
between fracking and water contamination.
But here on the front lines of
the battle over fracking, which has become an increasingly popular technique
to extract previously unobtainable reserves of oil and gas, no conclusion is
yet definitive.
Before thinking about the water , you should look at this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_quality
tchao