Posted on 01/07/2012 2:29:37 PM PST by SeekAndFind
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where a natural gas driller has been accused of tainting water wells with methane and possibly hazardous chemicals say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is promising to deliver fresh water.
Homeowners in Dimock Township have been without a reliable supply of clean water since Houston-based driller Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. stopped making daily deliveries more than a month ago.
Three Dimock residents say the EPA told them Friday it's hiring a private contractor to deliver water to their homes about 20 miles south of the New York state line. The EPA says no decision has been made.
Cabot has been blamed for polluting an aquifer but denies responsibility for the contamination.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
ping
“I just ate some beans.... “
My love of beans makes me no martyr,
I’m a truly magnificent farter;
..My deafening reports
..In track and field sports
Make me much in demand as a starter.
The bottom line for me:
If the EPA is involved, I don’t believe a word of it.
LOLOLOLOL
Of course not. Thousand Island.
Well of course, I should have known!
"Theoretically", yes.
But, almost certainly, NO!
First, we're talking Pennsylvania -- almost the entire stte is underlaid by coalbeds of one depth or another. Which means that most wells are naturally subject to intrusion by coalbed methane and need to be vented.
Second, the Marcellus Shale strata being fracked is a mile-and-a-half (or more) beneath the aquifers tapped for well water and any coalbeds -- and separated from them by several other impermeable strata.
Speaking from the middle of the Barnett Shale, where horizontal drilling and fracking was first employed in the early nineties, the Dimock complainers (and the EPA) are full of it.
Let's start with any well water tests made before the drilling began. I'd wager there was evidence of methane.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly changed its mind Saturday about delivering fresh water to residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential wells were found to be tainted by a natural gas drilling operation.
Only 24 hours after promising them water, EPA officials informed residents of Dimock that a tanker truck wouldn't be coming after all -- an about-face that left them furious, confused and let down -- and, once again, scrambling for water for bathing, washing dishes and flushing toilets.
Agency officials would not explain why they reneged on their promise, or say whether water would be delivered at some point.
Companies need to spend money ahead of time documenting baseline conditions BEFORE putting a bit in the ground. If this operation is in coal country, just the pumping of groundwater from shallow wells that penetrate coal seams can release methane. There are ways to analyze the gas to determine where it originates, but prevention before drilling is the best method.
Then there is the possibility that new water wells to support drilling infrastructure (from drilling make-up water to water for employee trailers) can lower the water table releasing methane from coal seams. So though fracking itself may not have caused pollution, increased human activity in the area may have upset the balance. I’ve seen this happen in Northern New Mexico so have an idea that this, rather than fracking, may be the cause.
Makes sense.
Where there is coal, there is methane. Pennsylvania used to be a major natural gas producer -- on the basis of shallow coal-bed methane. There are abandoned wells all over the state.
They do this all the time in Texas, too. They poison water wells. One guy could torch his faucet gas “water.” It is a huge problem the industry likes to pretend is a “conspiracy theory.” LOL This country is insane.
You can’t run this country and economy without energy; you can’t live without clean water and air. Unfortunately, we have the radical water melons always waiting in the wings to make things much worse instead of solving the problems. On the other side we have the hear no evil, see no evil, say no evil profit is all that matters, energy industry supporters. It boils down to stupid versus evil. There is no good will and common sense permitted.
The article seems a bit skimpy on details.
Your thoughts on this??
actually closer to italian
Dimock water issues are not related to hydraulic fracturing.
Cabot had casing problems that polluted the local wells. Cabot fixed the problem, had to provide drinking water to the locals until their water cleared up. In some cases they had to provide methane removal systems to existing wells even though it was disputed that the methane existed prior to Cabots drilling.
Eventually, the water tested good and Cabot requested and was granted a reprive from delivering water to replace the wells now testing good.
The EPA is not going to deliver water either it seems, I don’t know why anyone from their claimed they would.
Federal agency cancels water delivery to Pa. town
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501363_162-57354515/federal-agency-cancels-water-delivery-to-pa-town/
January 7, 2012 6:11 PM
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly changed its mind Saturday about delivering fresh water to residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential wells were found to be tainted by a natural gas drilling operation.
Only 24 hours after promising them water, EPA officials informed residents of Dimock that a tanker truck wouldn’t be coming after all. The about-face left residents furious, confused and let down — and, once again, scrambling for water for bathing, washing dishes and flushing toilets.
That is usually the cause of groundwater contamination if obvious surface sources are eliminated. In the case of many older wells in NM, cement was not commonly circulated along the entire length of casing. For new wells, a lengthy, well cemented string of surface casing will usually eliminate future problems.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.