Studies find methane in Pennsylvania drinking water

[marmar]

PITTSBURGH (AP) — New research in Pennsylvania demonstrates that it's hard to nail down how often natural gas drilling is contaminating drinking water: One study found high levels of methane in some water wells within a half-mile of gas wells, while another found some serious methane pollution occurring naturally, far away from drilling.

The findings represent a middle ground between critics of the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing who claim it causes widespread contamination, and an industry that suggests they are rare or nonexistent.

The contamination from drilling is "not an epidemic. It's a minority of cases," said Rob Jackson, a Duke University researcher and co-author of the study released Monday. But he added the team found that serious contamination from bubbly methane is "much more" prevalent in some water wells within 1 kilometer of gas drilling sites.

Methane is an odorless gas that is not known to be toxic, but in high concentrations it can be explosive and deadly. ......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20130624/US--Gas.Drilling-Water/

[malaise]

1. Frack away

[Igel]

2. Those have been the claims.

On both sides. And not just in PA.

What makes it problematic is when fracking occurs. Then any change in methane concentration is attributable to fracking. If you had bad water but didn't know why it was bad, suddenly you check methane and there it is. Before you had "bad water," but now you know fracking produced "methane-rich water." Post hoc, but since when have humans failed to be sucker for that kind of reasoning?

And the press is complicit. Flammable water 50 miles from the nearest fracking, unless somebody can say it's due to fracking, isn't news. It's weird, maybe the kind of thing that the weather guy uses as a curio piece. Or not. Flammable water a mile from fracking needs no proof to be able to claim fracking caused it. Then you have an impressive, speaking-truth-to-power news story that can play for days.

[Politicalboi]

3. But, But, But, it's safe

"Private water well quality and construction, as well as methane migration, is a longstanding public health issue in Pennsylvania, dating back decades," CEO Kathryn Klaber said in an email.

See all this over nothing. So your water catches fire, don't drink it silly. Boil it, but DO NOT SPILL. This has been going on for decades. Good Luck, Sincerely, Kathryn Klaber. LOL!