Federal officers of the EPA found
that water contamination in central Wyoming is due to a gas drilling process.
The EPA found this by doing a study to determine whether or not fracking harmed
the water resources in the first place. EPA officials said that the
contamination close to the town of Pavillion contained at least ten compounds
that are known to be used in frack fluids.
A draft report that was released says that “the presence of synthetic
compounds such as glycol ethers… and the assortment of other organic compounds
is explained as the result of direct mixing of hydraulic fracturing fluids with
ground water in the Pavillion gas field.”
Due to these findings, there could
be a significant turning point in the debate over whether or not there I
contamination from fracking. This will also likely influence the how the
country will regulate natural gas resources throughout the Eastern Appalachian
states. These findings also contradict many of the arguments about why fracking
is a safe process, which the drilling industry has been using for many years.
For example “hydrologic pressure would naturally force fluids down, not up;
that deep geologic layers provide a watertight barrier preventing the movement
of chemicals towards the surface; and that the problems with the cement and
steel barriers around gas wells aren’t connected to fracking.” Environmental
advocates seized this opportunity to argue for tougher regulations of fracking.
A policy analyst at the Natural
Resources Defense Council says that there is always a risk when it comes to
fracking. There are many things that can go wrong and this is why we need
strong regulations on fracking, so we can lessen the threat on drinking water.
At first EnCana, the gas station that owns the Pavillion wells, did not respond
to the invite for remark. When there finally was a remark, the spokesman Doug
Hock said that nothing has changed since last August, and that there remains
inclusive data.
The EPA’s findings instantly caused
an intense political dispute over the regulations of fracking. Senator James
Inofe’s office challenged the EPA’s investigation in Wyoming previously as
biased. In the mid-1990’s civilians around the Pavillion area began to complain
of foul water, and things only got worse in 2004. They complained that there
water turned brown, and for a time gas stations provided drinking water to the
citizens. In 2008 water samples were taken from the drinking water and
hydrocarbons and other contaminants that could be related to fracking were
found. Then in 2010 the EPA drilled two water-monitoring wells that confirmed
high levels of carcinogenic chemicals (such as benzene and 2 Butoxyethanol)
which are known to be used in fracking. The EPA still did not draw conclusions
from the tests, because agriculture, drilling, and old pollution from waste
pits left by the oil and gas industry are all possible causes of the
contamination.
In the report released it was
concluded that pollution from 33 abandoned oil and gas waste pits are
responsible for some pollution in the shallow ground water. But they could not
be responsible for the pollution found in the monitoring wells 1,000 feet
underground. The agency finally concluded that the contamination had to be
caused by fracking. These findings are specific to Wyoming due to the fact that
the gas wells are being fracked at shallower depths. The EPA also concluded
that sporadic bonding occurred in the cement in areas which led to the barrier
that kept the chemicals in their intended zone had been weakened. Finally,
hydrolic pressure was found in the Pavillion area that pushed fluids from deep
geologic layers towards the surface. These barriers were not a proper barrier
to the contaminents that were moving up.
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