Pollution linked to ‘fracking’

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday for the first time that “fracking” — a controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells — might be to blame for causing groundwater pollution.

The draft finding could have significant implications while states, including Ohio, try to determine how to best regulate the process.

“All of the rhetoric from the industry has been there’s no way that this can happen,” said Trent Dougherty, a lawyer for the advocacy group Ohio Environmental Council.

“This shows that it has happened, and we need to protect the people in Ohio.”

The EPA found that hydrocarbons 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 the water.

The announcement will 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 and the Utica shale in Ohio in recent years.

The industry has long contended that fracking is safe, but environmentalists and some residents disagree.

In Ohio, where oil and gas companies are buying up mineral rights beneath millions of acres of land across the state, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is in charge of overseeing the new field.

EPA cites fracking as possible pollution source in Wyoming

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency   has said for the first time that fracking could have caused groundwater pollution in Wyoming, but state officials there apparently are challenging the notion, the Dayton Daily News reports.

Fracking refers to the process used to extract oil and natural gas from the underground shale deposits, which are expected to be an economic boon for Ohio in the next several years. But opponents worry that the drilling process could contaminate drinking water, a claim the EPA now is considering, the newspaper reports.

In Pavillion, Wyo., the fracking was close to water wells, but drilling in most areas goes deeper than the groundwater level, the newspaper reports.

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/morning_call/2011/12/epa-cites-fracking-as-possible.html

Fracking may be culprit for groundwater pollution, EPA says

By Steve Bennish, Staff Writer11:25 PM Thursday, December 8, 2011

An investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has raised alarm among critics of the oil and natural gas exploration boom getting under way in Ohio.

The federal agency said Thursday for the first time that fracking, a technique that can be used to extract deep deposits of oil and gas, may be to blame for groundwater pollution in Wyoming.

Residents in Pavillion, Wyo., initiated the investigation with complaints in 2008 that well water reeked of chemicals. Health officials advised them not to drink the water after the EPA found hydrocarbons in wells.

Natural gas exploration in Ohio is getting off the ground to the excitement of Gov. John Kasich, who said earlier this year he was “simply thrilled” by a report on natural gas explorations.

The Oklahoma City-based company Chesapeake Energy told shareholders it had leased 1.25 million acres to get at the deep Ohio Utica Shale formation.

Chesapeake estimated it could be worth up to $20 billion to the company. Other major companies are also exploring the Utica, believed to underlie the eastern three-quarters of the state.

Andy Ware, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said Ohio officials understand that state officials in Wyoming are disputing the report. “As far as Ohio, we believe we have the best drilling regulations in the country. We are confident we will protect our groundwater here in Ohio,” he said.

But Peggy Koebernick of Yellow Springs, a member of the No Frack group, said the EPA finding could make residents reconsider signing leases for gas exploration. “It could have an impact,” she said. “It could make fracking more controversial, while it’s now touted by the industry as being safe. We need more thorough investigation and a moratorium.”

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/fracking-may-be-culprit-for-groundwater-pollution-epa-says-1296532.html

Science Lags as Health Problems Emerge Near Gas Fields

ProPublica examined government environmental reports and private lawsuits and interviewed scores of residents, physicians and toxicologists in four states—Colorado, Texas, Wyoming and Pennsylvania—that are drilling hot spots. Our review showed that cases like Wallace-Babb's go back a decade in parts of Colorado and Wyoming, where drilling has taken place for years. They are just beginning to emerge in Pennsylvania, where the Marcellus Shale drilling boom began in earnest in 2008.

Concern about such health complaints is longstanding—Congress held hearings on them in 2007 at which Wallace-Babb testified. But the extent and cause of the problems remains unknown. Neither states nor the federal government have systematically tracked reports from people like Wallace-Babb, or comprehensively investigated how drilling affects human health.

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Skindell trying to halt "fracking"

A Lakewood lawmaker wants to put a hold on horizontal hydraulic fracturing in Ohio until a study can be done by the EPA. Sen. Michael Skindell (D) has introduced two bills that would make regulations on drilling operations stricter and impose a moratorium.

"The people of Ohio should be protected by proper regulations of the oil and gas industry," Skindell said.

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Fracking opponents seek moratorium in Ohio

Democratic state Sen. Michael Skindell of suburban Cleveland introduced a bill Tuesday calling for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to await results of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study of potential environmental hazards.

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Is New York’s Marcellus Shale Too Hot to Handle

As New York gears up for a massive expansion of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, state officials have made a potentially troubling discovery about the wastewater created by the process: It's radioactive. And they have yet to say how they'll deal with it.

The information comes from New York's Department of Environmental Conservation, which analyzed 13 samples of wastewater brought thousands of feet to the surface from drilling and found that they contain levels of radium-226, a derivative of uranium, as high as 267 times the limit safe for discharge into the environment and thousands of times the limit safe for people to drink.

The findings, if backed up with more tests, have several implications: The energy industry would likely face stiffer regulations and expenses, and have more trouble finding treatment plants to accept its waste -- if any would at all. Companies would need to license their waste handlers and test their workers for radioactive exposure, and possibly ship waste across the country. And the state would have to sort out how its laws for radioactive waste might apply to drilling and how the waste could impact water supplies and the environment.

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