EPA Links Fracking, Fouled Water
Gas drilling method cited as likely cause for groundwater
problems in Wyoming
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
9 December 2011
By Mead Gruver, Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced Thursday for the first time that fracking -- a
controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas
wells -- may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution.
The draft finding could have significant implications while states
try to determine how to regulate the process. Environmentalists
characterized the report as a significant development, though it
met immediate criticism from the oil and gas industry and a U.S.
senator.
The practice is called hydraulic fracturing and involves pumping
pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to open fissures
and improve the flow of oil or gas to the surface.
The EPA found that compounds likely associated with fracking
chemicals had been detected in the groundwater beneath Pavillion,
a small community in central Wyoming where residents say their
well water reeks of chemicals. Health officials last year advised
them not to drink their water after the EPA found low levels of
hydrocarbons in their wells.
The EPA announcement could add to the controversy over fracking,
which has played a large role in opening up many gas reserves,
including the Marcellus Shale in the eastern United States in
recent years.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials were
reviewing the draft report Thursday and plan to "submit comment
for the public record when our review is complete," spokeswoman
Katy Gresh said in a statement. "It is important to note that
there are no documented cases of hydraulic fracturing impacting a
water supply in Pennsylvania."
And Kathryn Klaber, president and chief executive of the Marcellus
Shale Coalition based in Canonsburg, Pa., an organization of
energy industry firms seeking to develop Western Pennsylvania
regional resources, said: "Environmental protection is critical to
our industry. And we are confident that as the critical
peer-review process moves forward, scientists and engineers on the
ground in Wyoming will be able to secure more facts. However, it
is entirely too early in this process, given the lack of
peer-reviewed data, to arrive at any kind of absolute
conclusions."
The industry has contended that fracking is safe, but
environmentalists and some residents who live near drilling sites
say it has poisoned groundwater.
The EPA said its announcement is the first step in opening up its
findings for review by the public and other scientists.
"EPA's highest priority remains ensuring that Pavillion residents
have access to safe drinking water," said Jim Martin, EPA regional
administrator in Denver. "We look forward to having these findings
in the draft report informed by a transparent and public review
process."
The EPA also emphasized that the findings are specific to the
Pavillion, Wyo., area.
The agency said the fracking in Pavillion differed from fracking
methods used elsewhere.
The fracking occurred below the level of the drinking-water
aquifer and close to water wells, the EPA said. Elsewhere,
drilling is more remote, and fracking occurs much deeper than the
level of groundwater that would normally be used.
Environmentalists welcomed the EPA report, calling it a turning
point in the fracking debate.
"This is an important first indication there are potential
problems with fracking that can impact domestic water wells. It's,
I think, a clarion call to industry to make sure they take a great
deal of care in their drilling practices," said Steve Jones with
the Wyoming Outdoor Council.
Pavillion resident John Fenton, chairman of the Pavillion Area
Concerned Citizens group, applauded the EPA for listening to the
homeowners with contaminated water.
The Pavillion gas field is owned by the Canadian firm Encana,
based in Calgary, Alberta. An announced $45 million sale to
Midland, Texas-based Legacy Reserves fell through last month, amid
what Encana said were Legacy's concerns about the EPA inquiry.
Encana spokesman Doug Hock said there was much to question about
the draft study.
The compounds that the EPA said could be associated with fracking,
he said, could have had other origins unrelated to gas
development. "Those could just have likely been brought about by
contamination in their sampling process or construction of their
well," he said.
The low levels of hydrocarbons found in local water wells likewise
haven't been linked to gas development, and substances such as
methane itself are naturally occurring in the area.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said the EPA study was "not based on
sound science, but rather on political science."
"Its findings are premature," he said, "given that the agency has
not gone through the necessary peer-review process, and there are
still serious outstanding questions regarding EPA's data and
methodology."
Post-Gazette staff writer Liz Navratil contributed.