Flammable Contaminated Water Case in PA

Duane Nichols — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 12:30:35 +0000

Arbitration Possible for Hydrofracking Dispute

From Article by Rose Bouboushian, Courthouse News, December 5, 2013

Oil and gas giant Chesapeake Energy cannot yet arbitrate claims that its “ultrahazardous” hydraulic fracturing made groundwater flammable in Pennsylvania, a federal judge ruled.

The dispute stems from a 2008 oil and gas lease that gave Chesapeake Appalachia five years to drill for and extract natural gas from the Granville Summit, Pa., property owned by Michael and Nancy Leighton. By 2010, there were two gas wells about half a mile from the Leightons’ residence and water supply well that violated industry standards, the couple claimed.

They said the Chesapeake and its affiliates then had to conduct “remedial perforations and cement squeeze operations” on one of the wells in November 2011, “allowing contaminants … to escape from the well bore for as many as seven days” in May 2012.

Though the driller’s samples showed the Leightons’ water was of good quality in May 2011, stats allegedly changed after the hydrofracking occurred.

The Leightons said the state Environmental Protection Department and Chesapeake Appalachia took samples in May 2012 showing substantial increases in the levels of methane, ethane, propane, iron and manganese in the Leightons’ groundwater.

While the creek on the Leightons’ property began bubbling at the surface, the groundwater “drastically changed in clarity and color, had a foul odor, contained noticeable levels of natural gas,” and had “become flammable,” the couple claimed.

Chesapeake Appalachia allegedly made the water temporarily safe for residential uses, “but not for drinking,” the next month. To keep gas from infiltrating at “dangerous and explosive levels,” the company allegedly installed a “sub-slab air insertion system” in the Leightons’ basement.

The Leightons sued Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Appalachia, parent company Chesapeake Energy, Texas-based Schlumberger Technology, and another Chesapeake subsidiary, Nomac Drilling LLC.”

Duke Study Shows Fracking Contaminates Drinking Water

Dee Fulton — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:59:36 +0000

Flammable tap water. You’ve seen it on Gasland. You can find several YouTube videos of this event on the net. Now the research has caught up with the reality. Duke University studied water quality in the vicinity of hydraulic fracturing and produced incontrovertible evidence that fracking contaminates drinking water wells with methane gas. The study published Monday 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. But in an unexpected finding, the team of Duke University scientists did not find any trace of the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process in 68 wells tested in Pennsylvania and Otsego County in central New York. In hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, water, sand and chemicals are injected underground to crack the rock and get natural gas to flow into a well. Critics of the technique have worried more about the chemicals since companies have refused to make public the proprietary blends used, and many of the ingredients can be toxic.

On average, water from wells located less than a mile from drilling sites had 17 times more methane than water tested from wells farther away, according to the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Methane is not known to be toxic, but in high concentrations it can be explosive and cause unconsciousness and even death, since it displaces oxygen needed to breathe. Of the 60 wells tested for methane gas, 14 had levels of methane within or above a hazard range set by the Department of Interior for gas seeping from coal mines — all but one of them near a gas well. In nine wells, concentrations were so high that the government would recommend immediate action to reduce the methane level. Methane is released naturally by bacteria as they break down organic matter. The researchers’ analysis shows that the type of methane in the wells with the highest concentrations is coming from deep in the earth, the same place tapped by companies in search of natural gas.

In the most severe case, a homeowner in Bradford County, Pa. who leased her property to a gas company has so much methane coming out of her tap she can light her water on fire. A natural gas well is located 800 feet from her house.

Frack Check WV » flammable tap water

Flammable Contaminated Water Case in PA

Duke Study Shows Fracking Contaminates Drinking Water