EPA Pavillion report stokes fire over fracking - SPECIAL REPORT

source: wyofile.com
Article Link
December 9 2011

The Environmental Protection Agency has

determined that the water of Pavillion, Wyoming

has been contamined with chemicals that are

associated in the extraction of natural gas and oil,

but they stopped short of linking the problem to any

 "fracking" taking place in or around area.

(Photo courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency

An Environmental Protection Agency draft report on Thursday confirms that chemicals commonly used in hydraulic fracturing in the extraction of natural gas and oil indeed contributed to the contamination of drinking water near Pavillion — a tiny farm town in the central portion of the state. But it stopped short of making the link to any specific hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — or any other specific drilling activity in an area where oil and gas drilling has occurred for decades.

The report was hailed by the environmental community and industry watchdog groups, which proclaimed validation in their warnings that fracking can pollute drinking water near Pavillion and elsewhere in the nation. “For years the oil and gas industry has argued that there is no chance that fracking will contaminate ground water sources, but this report appears to be a smoking gun against that claim,” Western Resource Advocates’ lands program director Mike Chiropolos said in a prepared statement.

The oil and gas industry slammed the report as “reckless,” “unsubstantiated,” and “irresponsible.” In fact, state and industry officials had asked EPA to hold the draft report until an “independent peer review” was conducted, according to the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, because industry and state leaders had been compiling a list of concerns with EPA’s investigation.

The draft report is now available for a 45-day public comment period, after which a 30-day peer-review process will begin “by a panel of independent scientists,” according to EPA.

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Company Backs out of $45 Million Deal to Buy Troubled Wyoming Gas Field

by Abrahm Lustgarten
ProPublica, Nov. 29, 2011

Image: Getty Images

A deal to sell a controversial central Wyoming natural gas field has fallen apart amidst allegations that drilling there has caused water pollution [1].

Texas-based Legacy Resources backed out of a $45 million [2] deal to buy the field near Pavillion, Wyom., from EnCana last week, soon after the Environmental Protection Agency said it had detected cancer-causing benzene at 50 times the level safe for humans and other carcinogenic pollutants during its latest round of sampling.

The cancelled sale could signal difficulty for companies trying to turn over aging gas fields if there are environmental or health concerns related to their operations.

“Although Encana retained responsibility for any outcome resulting from the ongoing groundwater investigation undertaken by EPA, due to the continued attention surrounding the investigation, and uncertainty regarding further development, Legacy is not prepared to go forward with the transaction,” said EnCana spokesman Doug Hock, in an email to ProPublica.

Legacy Resources did not respond to a call requesting comment.

Legacy Resources announced it had agreed to buy EnCana’s Pavillion-area wells [3], which produce an estimated 13 million cubic feet of gas a day, on Nov. 1. At the time, the company also said it planned to drill new wells in Pavillion to tap the 45 billion cubic feet of gas it believes lies underground.

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