Fracking did not contaminate water, rules EPA

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has this week concluded that the water supply in a small Pennsylvanian town, which has been at the centre of the debate into the environmental effects of natural gas drilling, or fracking, is safe.

In a statement, the EPA said that it had now completed water testing at 61 homes in Dimock, one of the most intensely drilled regions in the Marcellus Shale, and that its investigation had found no reason to “take further action”. 

The state regulators published data from only 59 of the 61 water wells on Friday, after two residents, whose homes were subject to testing, were unable to be contacted, explained EPA spokesman Roy Seneca.

The town of Dimock has never been far from the headlines in the US ever since residents told of the ill-smelling and unusual colour of their water after Cabot Oil and Gas began drilling in 2008. The town was thrown into the spotlight even further following the release of Oscar-nominated 2010 documentary “Gasland”, which saw the film’s director Josh Fox, meet with the residents of Dimock to share their concerns of water contamination.

In response to the investigation, Cabot Oil and Gas said that it was pleased that the EPA had “now reached the same conclusion of Cabot and state and local authorities resulting from the collection of more than 10,000 pages of hard data - that the water in Dimock meets all regulatory standards.”

Since the release of EPA results from mid-March, the agency confirmed that it had found contaminants in a number of wells. However, the EPA on each occasion declared that the wells were safe. In one set of results, a total of six wells from 11 homes were found to contain traces of sodium, methane, chromium and bacteria, while two wells were also found to have concentrations of arsenic. The EPA, once again, deemed levels to be safe.

George Stark, a Cabot spokesman, told Reuters that any contaminants found in the tests “are more likely indicative of naturally-occurring background levels or other unrelated activities.” The EPA has since made the decision not to carryout a detailed review of how the wells had become contaminated.

According to the oil and gas industry, methods such as fracking have revolutionised the natural gas industry, as they have granted companies access to previously untouched oil reserves, which have the potential to supply the US with natural gas for the next 100 years. As a result, the country is now the largest producer of natural gas in the world.

However, fracking in the US has never been far from controversy, with the method not only being linked to water contamination but also to an increase in seismic activity. In Ohio on New Year’s Eve last year, scientists in the US admitted that fracking at deep-well sites in Youngstown was the likely cause of a magnitude 4.0 earthquake.