Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Study links flaming faucets to fracking

A peer-reviewed scientific study has found a definite correlation between methane gas migration into drinking water wells--a phenomenon documented in the movie "Gasland," which shows several homeowners lighting their running kitchen faucets on fire--and the process of hydraulic fracture, or "fracking."

The study was done by Duke University, and found dangerous levels of methane in drinking water where a gas well was fracked within a kilometer (about three-fifths of a mile) of a water well. Considering that present WV regulations allow fracking as close as 200 feet to a water well, this study shows how truly inadequate those regulations are.

Let's hope that once the gubernatorial primary dust clears, legislators (including the acting governor) will get serious about a special session to deal with this issue.

http://www.propublica.org/article/scientific-study-links-flammable-drinking-water-to-fracking

--Michael Hasty

3 comments:

Capon Bridge said...

Thanks. Who are folks voting for in the upcoming Primary? I am undecided and would like to hear comments from the HI folks...

Donnyl said...

I'm voting for Purdue. He's for strong regulation and friendly towards single payer healthcare as well as putting a cap on utility rates.

Donnyl said...

If anyone knows of anyone better than Purdue for Governor, who would be open to a moratorium on fracking, I would love to hear about them.