editor
12,089
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→Groundwater: tidy
==Groundwater==
'''Documentation Issues.''' As development of natural gas wells in the U.S. since the year 2000 has increased, so too have claims by private well owners of water contamination. While the EPA recognizes the potential for contamination of water by hydraulic fracturing, in May 2011 EPA Administrator [[Lisa P. Jackson]] testified in a Senate Hearing Committee stating "I'm not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water...".<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=23EB85DD-802A-23AD-43F9-DA281B2CD287
|publisher=U.S. Senate
|date=May 6, 2011}}</ref> One reason for a seeming lack of documentation is the current practice of sealing the documents after a court case. While the American Petroleum Institute "dismissed the assertion that sealed settlements have hidden problems with gas drilling," some feel it represents an unnecessary risk to public safety and health.<ref name="Urbina 03Aug2011">{{cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04natgas.html |title=A Tainted Water Well, and Concern There May be More |author=Ian Urbina |date=3 August 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=22 February 2012}}</ref> Despite these setbacks, there are, however, cases of contamination have been documented both before and after her testimony.
'''1987 Jackson County, West Virginia case.''' As early as 1987, an E.P.A. report was published that indicated fracture fluid invasion into James Parson's water well in Jackson County, West Virginia. The well, drilled by Kaiser Exploration and Mining Company, was found to have induced fractures that created a pathway to allow fracture fluid to contaminate the groundwater from which Mr. Parson's well was producing. There still however exists much contention between the oil and gas industry and the E.P.A. on the accuracy and thoroughness of this report.<ref name="Urbina 03Aug2011"/> In 2006 drilling fluids and [[methane]] were detected leaking from the ground near a gas well in [[Clark, Wyoming]]; 8 million cubic feet of methane were eventually released, and shallow groundwater was found to be contaminated.<ref name="HeatOnGas"/>
'''Duke University study.''' A Duke University study published in ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' in 2011 examined methane in groundwater in [[Pennsylvania]] and [[New York]] states overlying the [[Marcellus Shale]] and the [[Utica Shale]]. It determined that groundwater tended to contain much higher concentrations of methane near fracking wells, with potential explosion hazard; the methane's [[isotopic signature]]s and other geochemical indicators were consistent with it originating in the fracked deep shale formations, rather than any other source.<ref>{{cite journal
|last=Osborn |first=Stephen G.
|last2=Vengosh |first2=Avner
