Researchers: Pa. gas drilling study had error

www.timesleader.com/news/Researchers__Pa__gas_drilling_study_had_error_12-02-2011.html
December 2, 2011

Far less evidence of well contamination by bromides than first suggested.

PITTSBURGH — A recently released study on natural gas drilling and contamination of water wells, contentious issues as drillers swarm to a lucrative shale formation beneath Pennsylvania, had an error, according to researchers from Penn State University.

The researchers reported that there is far less evidence of well contamination by bromides, salty mineral compounds that can combine with other elements to cause health problems, than first suggested.

The researchers are reviewing the entire study, released in October, after discovering that results from an independent water testing lab contained the error.

One water well, not seven, showed increased bromide levels after drilling, the researchers said in a statement issued last week by The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a state-funded agency that first released the study.

One of the Penn State University researchers, Bryan Swistock, said in an email that the study didn’t go through an independent scientific peer review process because of a Center for Rural Pennsylvania policy  that reports must first go to the General Assembly before outside publication.

The study is now being submitted for outside review, he said.

Patrick Creighton, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas industry group, said in an email that the error was “small” and that the key point is still that nearly 40 percent of the wells tested failed at least one water quality standard even before natural gas drilling started, along with nearly 20 percent that showed traces of methane before drilling.

The researchers said a corrected version of the study will be issued.

A gas drilling procedure called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves blasting chemical-laced water into the ground, has been studied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others as drillers flock to the Marcellus Shale region primarily beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio. Pennsylvania is the center of activity, with more than 3,000 wells drilled in the past three years and thousands more planned.

Environmentalists and other critics say fracking could poison water supplies, but the natural gas industry says it’s been used safely for decades.