Drinking Water at Risk Because Of Natural Gas Drilling

An eye-popping report published in the Denver Post on Monday is a cause for serious concern regarding community water supplies around the country.  

A common and relatively new process called hydraulic fracturing, pioneered by Halliburton, and developed as a method of releasing natural gas, originally was considered safe by a 2004 EPA study, which found no risk posed to drinking water.

This investigative report, researched and written by the new nonprofit journalism organization ProPublica, details how it was discovered earlier this year that the process actually poses a very serious risk to public drinking water, due to the massive amounts of toxins released. From the Post:

The process has been considered safe since a 2004 study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that it posed no risk to drinking water. After that study, Congress even exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Today, fracturing is used in nine of every 10 natural-gas wells in the United States

So the use of this technology is widespread. And just how bad is it?

An investigation by ProPublica found that water contamination in drilling areas around the country is far more prevalent than the EPA asserts.

This investigation also found that the 2004 EPA study was not as conclusive as it claimed to be. A close review shows that the body of the study contains damaging information that wasn't mentioned in the conclusion. In fact, the study foreshadowed many of the problems now being reported across the country.

How could this happen? Granted, the Bush administration has used the EPA as an industry tool as much as possible since 2001. But this means the scientists knew this was a problem, but the agency went ahead anyway. Seems like if stronger whistleblower protections for federal scientists were in place, maybe more people would have spoken out about the problem.

But that’s not the worst part – the EPA scientists don’t know exactly what the problem is now, because they don’t know exactly what chemicals are used in the process. Check it out:

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of each contamination or measure its spread accurately because the precise nature and concentrations of the chemicals used by industry are considered trade secrets. Not even the EPA knows exactly what's in the drilling fluids. And that, EPA scientists say, makes it impossible to vouch for the safety of the drilling process or precisely track its effects.

Meanwhile, this process has allowed for a surge in natural gas drillings across the country. And that continues to this day.

-- Dylan Blaylock