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Frack This: Drinking Water Actually <em>Has</em> Been Contaminated
By
Rachel Pincus
Published Aug 5, 2011
Modified Aug 5, 2011
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By
Rachel Pincus
Published Aug 5, 2011
Modified Aug 5, 2011
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The latest inquiry into the gritty realities of our new friends the fracking industry has just come out, and it brings us an important and previously-unheard lesson: energy industry officials lie! At least if you'll believe a 1987 EPA report that was spared by protocols that have left scientific information about other fracking incidents sealed.
According to the study, in 1984 fracturing fluids and gel used by the Kaiser Exploration and Mining Company in Jackson County, West Virginia contaminated a well 600 feet away, on the property of James Parsons. This rendered his well water unusable. Though the equipment and amount of water and pressure used in fracking have changed since then, researchers believe that the fluids and gel may have bubbled up through nearby abandoned gas wells, which remain a problem to this day. "Many states lack complete records with the number or location of these abandoned wells and they lack the resources to ensure that abandoned and active wells are inspected regularly," reports the Times.
It's something of a miracle the NY Times even got access to this much information. Unlike Texas, where "the records of well-publicized damage incidents are almost entirely unavailable for review," we live in a great, open society, where you're educated every day about the approximate shape and size of your local representative's peen or a terrible mother who is acquitted of her child's death. Still, there's much more out there: "Ms. Greathouse, the former environmental research contractor and the lead author of the 1987 E.P.A. report, said that she and her colleagues had found “dozens” of cases that she said appeared to specifically involve drinking water contamination related to fracking." The only reassurance? “As described in the detail write-up, this [contamination] is not a normal result of fracturing, as it ruins the productive capability of the wells,” said the American Petroleum Institute. If it doesn't make big bucks, it won't fly!
Tagged
contamination
drilling
drinking water
epa
fracking
natural gas
Rachel Pincus
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