Article on Fracking Chemicals in Water, Penn

[John Mayo]

Dennis sent this as link. Here is the article.

Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press Writer., On Thursday September 16,
2010, 5:56 pm EDT

DIMOCK, Pa. (AP) -- A private consulting firm says it found toxic
chemicals in the drinking water of a Pennsylvania community already
dealing with methane contamination from natural gas drilling.

Environmental engineer Daniel Farnham said Thursday that his tests,
which were verified by three laboratories, found industrial solvents
such as toluene and ethylbenzene in "virtually every sample" taken
from water wells in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County.

Farnham, who has tested water for both gas interests and for local
residents, said it would be impossible to say that the chemicals he
found were caused by gas drilling.

The chemicals, at least one of which, ethylbenzene, may cause cancer,
are among dozens used to hydraulically fracture shale deposits to
unlock natural gas trapped thousands of feet underground. The
chemicals are also used in an array of products ranging from paint
thinner to gasoline.

The contaminated Dimock wells are in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale,
where a rush to tap the vast stores has set off intense debate over
the environmental and public health impact of the drilling process.
Millions of gallons of water mixed with numerous chemicals and sand
are blasted deep into the earth to free gas from the shale rock. As
much as 90 percent of the mixture is left underground.

Dimock residents sued Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. last year,
alleging the drilling company polluted their wells with methane gas
and other contaminants. Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental
Protection said defective casings on at least three of Cabot's wells
allowed gas to pollute groundwater. Cabot was fined more than $240,000
and ordered to clean up the pollution.

On Thursday, DEP said it would spend about $10.5 million to provide
safe water for the affected Dimock residents, connecting their homes
to a municipal water supply in Montrose, about six miles away. The
residents balked at an earlier fix that would have placed large, whole-
house water treatment systems in each of the 14 affected homes.

DEP chief John Hanger told The Associated Press that the connection to
public water is "the best, and really only, solution" and that if
Cabot balks at paying the tab, the state will pay for the work itself
-- then go after Cabot for the money.

Officials and residents had discussed another option -- drilling a
well or wells and piping that water to the homes, but Hanger said it
was dropped because "we don't believe that will ensure a permanent,
safe supply of water."

A person who took part in the discussions said Hanger told residents
the entire aquifer might be polluted by gas drilling operations.

"He said, 'I cannot guarantee that there is any water in the aquifer
that is clean today, that will be clean next week, that will be clean
six months after the whole system is put in, because of the drilling
activity and the damage to the aquifer.' It was repeated twice," said
the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private
meeting

On Tuesday, 13 families in Lenox Township, about eight miles from
Dimock, sued another Houston driller, Southwestern Energy Co.,
claiming their wells were contaminated with fracking fluids.
Southwestern denied any problems with its well.

In Dimock, Farnham said the water samples were tested independently by
three labs, all of which showed the same results.

But Farnham said it's impossible to tell where the chemicals came
from.

"Can anybody say that this came from fracking, or from frack flowback?
There's no way a true scientist would be able to make that
determination based on the data that we have," he told The Associated
Press on Thursday. "Until and unless we are able to put a die or
marker in the frack liquid, it's going to be awfully difficult to
prove irrefutably that it's coming from frack."

Cabot spokesman George Stark said the chemicals existed in some wells
before drilling began.

"We have asked for samples of the affected well water so we can do an
independent analysis," he said.

Dimock residents have claimed their wells were contaminated shortly
after Cabot started drilling near their homes, saying the water that
came out of their faucets suddenly became cloudy, foamy and
discolored, and smelled and tasted foul.

One resident's well exploded on New Year's Day 2009, prompting a state
investigation that found Cabot had allowed combustible gas to escape
into the region's groundwater supplies.

Cabot says the methane in the residents' wells might be naturally
occurring.

Farnham -- hired by Cabot in 2008 to perform pre-drill testing of
residential water wells in Dimock -- said those tests did not turn up
any problems, adding he did not even test for the chemicals that Cabot
claims existed prior to drilling.

After the drilling began, Farnham was asked by residents to test their
water, and was later hired by plaintiffs' attorneys.

"It doesn't take me or any scientist to see some of the impacts on the
drinking water," he said. "Your drinking water goes from clear and
fine, to a week later being yellow-colored, sediment on the bottom,
foam on the top and an oily smell to it. It's not a figment of
anybody's imagination."

The Dimock test results were first reported by The Ti