Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking

http://www.propublica.org/article/scientific-study-links-flammable-drinking-water-to-fracking

For the first time, a peer-reviewed scientific study has linked gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire. Publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stands to shape the international debate over whether drilling is safe, and begins to fill gaps that have made it difficult for lawmakers to understand the risks.

The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. They found that levels of flammable methane gas in drinking water wells increased to dangerous levels when those water supplies were close to natural gas wells. They also found that the type of gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type of gas that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground, strongly implying that the gas may be seeping underground through natural or manmade faults and fractures, or coming from cracks in the well structure itself.

http://today.duke.edu/2011/05/hydrofracking

Duke_Journal_Report.pdf

Duke_Research and Policy.pdf [White Paper]

Study Finds Methane Contamination Rises Near Shale Gas Wells

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/05/09/09greenwire-study-finds-methane-contamination-rises-near-s-87464.html

Researchers at Duke University have issued a study showing a link between methane contamination of drinking water wells and their proximity to shale gas drilling sites.

The study would suggest potential for widespread contamination of rural drinking water from drilling in the Marcellus Shale under Pennsylvania, New York and other states. It could also provide substantial backing for drilling opponents and drill-site neighbors who blame drilling for fouled drinking water.

Marcellus Shale links: Study finds methane gas in drinking water near hydrofracking sites in Pennsylvania.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/study_finds_methane_gas_in_dri.html

New research is providing some of the first scientific evidence that a controversial gas drilling technique can contaminate drinking water. The published study found potentially dangerous concentrations of methane gas in water from wells near drilling sites in northeastern Pennsylvania, although not in central New York, where gas drilling is less extensive.