[CRNMC] Pennsylvania Makes Public 243 Cases of Fracking Contaminated Water

[Steve Scalmanini]

In case this hasn't made the rounds yet.  

Steve 

___ 


Pennsylvania
Makes Public 243 Cases of Fracking Contaminated Water
 
By FishOutofWater
Fri Aug 29, 2014
Daily Kos
 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/29/1325694/-Pennsylvania-Makes-Public-243-Cases-of-Fracking-Contaminated-Water?detail=email
 
The state of Pennsylvania
has released redacted details of 243 cases of water contamination caused by
fracking and related activities by the natural gas industry. Claims made by the
fracking industry that they have not contaminated water are utter rubbish. These
243 cases which took place in Pennsylvania between 2008 and 2014 involve a wide
range of contamination problems including the contamination of multiple
water supply wells by one fracking operation.  State officials did not
indicate how many more cases of contamination may have occurred since 2008 that
are not included in this list.
 
The 243 cases,
from 2008 to 2014, include some where a single drilling operation impacted
multiple water wells. The problems listed in the documents include methane gas
contamination, spills of wastewater and other pollutants, and wells that went
dry or were otherwise undrinkable. Some of the problems were temporary, but the
names of landowners were redacted, so it wasn't clear if the problems were
resolved to their satisfaction. Other complaints are still being investigated
 
Here
is an example case I went to semi-randomly. 

The
243 cases can be found here.

It is clear that fracking has been causing wide ranging water problems but
the industry has pressed hard to keep them from being made public. Pennsylvania's
inspector general has admitted the problems with fracking have overwhelmed
state regulators.

The release of
contamination information also comes about a month after a report from the
state’s Inspector General that found that the rapid growth of the state’s gas
industry “caught the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) unprepared to
effectively administer laws and regulations to protect drinking water and
unable to efficiently respond to citizen complaints.”
 
They repeatedly lied to us in North Carolina in public meetings which I attended that
there were no documented cases of fracking contamination of water supplies.
 North Carolina Republicans were given dog and poly show tours of Pennsylvania
gas wells. They came back with glowing reports selling fracking to North Carolinians.
 
State Sen. Bob
Rucho returned from a taxpayer-funded trip to Pennsylvania's shale gas drilling
region talking about green pastures and cows - not drinking water contamination
or health concerns. 
"I was impressed with the
best industry practices they've established," he said, dismissing
complaints about shale gas extraction as erroneous or exaggerated. "What
we saw was green grass and cows grazing."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/20/1657845/nc-lawmakers-trips-to-fracking.html#storylink=cpy 

The fracking industry was lying to North Carolina's
state representatives and citizens.
Those lies have now been exposed.

A permanent moratorium on expanding fracking to new areas needs to be
declared now to stop more water from being contaminated and to remedy
deficiencies in regulation that are allowing water to be contaminated in
violation of federal water quality laws.
Originally
posted to FishOutofWater on Fri Aug 29, 2014at 11:12 AM PDT.
Also
republished by North
Carolina BLUE and DK
GreenRoots. 
 
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