A gas industry newsletter is coming to the defense of Range Resources, saying the Environmental Protection Agency was wrong to accuse it of fouling a pair of rural drinking water wells in North Texas.
Earlier this month the EPA said Range had to act quickly to clean up the drinking water of two Parker County homes that are within a mile of some sites where Range has been drilling for gas in the Barnett Shale formation. Natural gas has been detected in the water.
Range has denied the accusations, and Texas’ main oil and gas drilling regulator says the EPA was too hasty in acting.
Now the Powell Barnett Shale Newsletter– an industry publication that follows the nooks-and-crannies of drilling in the massive gas formation — says its own investigation shows drinking water wells in the area regularly show signs on natural gas even when there’s no drilling.
According to the paper the group published, a drinking water well drilled in 2005 within 1,200 feet of the two wells involved in the complaint showed significant amounts of natural gas. The water well was drilled to 180 feet and was done well before there was gas drilling in the area.
The Powell Barnett newsletter team believes the natural gas from that well and in the two wells in the complaint is coming from a formation much shallower than the Barnett (which is some 5,000 feet below the drinking water). They believe it may actually be water well drilling — not gas well drilling — that is creating the problem. As more families have drilled water wells in the area, the hydrostatic pressure that kept gas locked in the shallow formation decreased, letting gas seep, they said. You can read the complete report here.
Cabot Oil & Gas has made similar arguments in its fight against claims its drilling has sent natural gas into a dozen drinking water wells in Pennsylvania. The firm gathered signed affidavits from landowners saying they had natural gas in their well water years before there was nearby gas drilling.
Opponents of natural gas drilling might be quick to point out Powell Barnett is a publication that makes its money by subscribers most likely in the drilling business.
But others might point out that geology doesn’t lie and that one could actually determine what formation is the source for the gas in the water. Test the gas and you’ll know where it’s from.
One thing’s for sure: You can bet natural gas drillers are looking to test local water wells in rural areas before they drill.
Photo:Ralph Wilson/AP
I read the newsletter’s version of events. And it makes far far more logical sense than the EPA’s version.
If the water well driller encountered shallow gas, then how can EPA discount that ? Did the EPA talk to the water well driller ? Does the EPA think the water well driller has been bought off or something ? I don’t see that, not at all.
That’s absolutely conclusive evidence where the gas came from and if the EPA ignores that, then the next conclusion is the EPA’s findings are totally politically motivated, which I would not find surprising.
Let’s face it: Facts and the EPA have nothing to do with each other.
Don’t know what Fracking is? Don’t know how the process has changed over last decade or why it’s dangerous to the environment? Read this:
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking/
Oh yeah, Zoiks, link us to a one sided movie for “facts”…
…nice try.
Really… what are the chances that a shale gas newsletter is is going to agree with the EPA? Stupid Texans love their foul air, nasty water and degraded land, and don’t care that it is killing their kids. Pure genius. The money that you may get from this industry activity is nowhere near what you will need to fix all of your family’s health problems, if they can be fixed at all.
Isn’t it amazing that every publication that disagrees with your point of view is flawed, biased, and out of touch with reality no matter which side of the debate you are on.
Facts on fracing….http://www.oilandgasjointassociationeducation.com/
I remember as a kid that waterwells in Michigan had plenty of natural gas in them. Just slightly turn the spigot outside of the old farmhouse and light a match to get a beautiful blue flame. No gas wells in the area at all.
Yeah Zoiks ” Don’t know what Fracking is? ” ….. that person is your prey, the person who has no clue and you could promote this mockumentary and fill his head with crap.
Anytime the oil and gas industry makes an attempt to defend themselves , the are discredited as being biased. They can not defend themselves and most of the general public is too ignorant or stupid be able to sort this out for themselves.
But somehow, the EPA led by environmental wacko Lisa Jackson, has complete credibility. This is crazy and typical of the ” nanny state ” where idiots depend upon government for everything, even to do their thinking for them.
If you know anything about geology, about drilling oil wells, and about fracing ……… then you will understand how far off base the EPA is , and how politically motivated they have become.
Strange science (or faked science), or perhaps no science at all. The feds, the EPA, and the crazies who are ranting about well fracing are children at best, and idiots at the worst.
Over 50,000 wells have been fraced since the 1950′s, and there is not one shred of real fact or science to support any contention of ‘fouling drinking water’, or ‘breaking grandma’s plates due to the ground shaking’. Come on – is the country’s education system truly sunk to such a low, that these environmentalists truly believe their spouted garbage??