EPA study confirms fracking contamination

The New York Times reporter Ian Urbina, who, in a series of recent articles, has uncovered some damning information about the fracking process, had a story on Wednesday about an EPA study done in 1987 about a West Virginia water well contaminated by fracking chemicals.

It has long been a staple of industry propaganda that no such case exists.

The EPA report says, "When fracturing the Kaiser gas well on Mr. James Parson's property, fractures were created allowing migration of fracture fluid from the gas well to Mr. Parson's water well. This fracture fluid, along with natural gas, was present in Mr. Parson's water, rendering it unusable."

Although, as the article notes, drilling technology has improved since the EPA report was written, included in the report is the suggestion that this case is only the tip of the iceberg. Urbina interviewed the report's lead author, who "said that she and her colleagues had found 'dozens' of cases that she said appeared to specifically involve drinking water contamination related to fracking. But they were unable to investigate those cases further and get access to more documents because of legal settlements. All but the Parsons case were excluded from the EPA study, she said, because of pressure from industry representatives who were members of an agency working group overseeing the research."

It seems to be standard US government procedure to have a fox guarding every hen house.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04natgas.html?_r=1&hp