Local epicenter of shale drilling likely site for EPA fracking study
Susquehanna and Bradford counties have been selected as one among five areas across the country that might be chosen by the Environmental Protection Agency for case studies of oil and gas drilling’s impact on drinking water.
The case study finalists are all places where oil or gas wells have been hydraulically fractured and where drinking water contamination has been reported.
The finalists were included in the draft study plan the EPA released last week for its multiyear investigation of the possible link between groundwater contamination and hydraulic fracturing or fracking, the process of injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations to crack the rock and release the oil or gas trapped there.
The EPA plans to investigate the full life cycle of the hydraulic fracturing process, from the moment water for fracking is withdrawn from waterways through the mixing of chemicals and the fracturing of wells to the disposal of the wastewater that returns to the surface.
The agency selected five areas – two in Pennsylvania and one each in Colorado, Texas and North Dakota – as case study finalists. It may choose three to five of them as retrospective case studies, or studies of areas already reporting impacts from drilling. Other areas, including Greene County, Pa., are proposed as prospective case studies where the agency will seek to measure any impact from fracking as it happens.
Marcellus Shale drilling areas in Bradford and Susquehanna were chosen as case study finalists so the agency can investigate contamination in groundwater and drinking water wells, as well as suspected surface-water contamination from a fracturing fluid spill and methane contamination in water wells, according to the draft study plan. The agency will use both existing data and information gathered through its own testing and modeling to determine if any contamination is linked to fracking activities.
A panel of scientists will review the draft study plan on March 7 and 8. The EPA will begin the study as soon as it incorporates the panel’s recommendations. The agency plans to release initial research results by the end of 2012 and may issue an additional report in 2014 after further research.
By Laura Legere (TIMES-SHAMROCK WRITER)
Published: February 15, 2011
http://thedailyreview.com/news/local-epicenter-of-shale-drilling-likely-site-for-epa-fracking-study-1.1104963