Yet another study confirms fracking can pollute groundwater. Industry continues to spread lies.

[limpyhobbler]

This was a study by researchers from Duke University recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The oil-gas companies have always claimed that they are drilling so deep that the the toxins can't seep back up to the surface water. This study shows that natural pathways do exist where the pollution can filter back up to the surface. Like they even needed a study to show that. It's pretty much common sense.

That means all the toxic crap can seep into the rivers and lakes that we swim, fish and drink out of. Animals drink it, plants need it, private wells and public water systems draw on it. Especially if your well or public system is old and leaky.

Fracking Can Pollute, Confirms Study

Slowly but surely the evidence is growing against fracking, as the authorities struggle to protect public health and drinking water.

A report published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Duke University professors found that there could be natural paths in the rock that connects the frack zone with drinking water.

The study shows that briny fluids may have migrated from deep within Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, one of the formations at the heart of the fracking revolution, into shallow aquifers hundreds of feet above.

And logic suggests that if natural briny fluids can travel through layers of rocks, fracking fluids could, too.
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via: http://priceofoil.org/2012/07/10/fracking-can-pollute-confirms-study/


The oil industry has their paid liars out trying to confuse the issue, by pointing to parts of the study that say evidence of contamination from fracking were not found in this study. True this study didn't show fracking contaminants escaped, but it DID SHOW THAT PATHWAYS EXIST FOR LIQUIDS AND GASES TO ESCAPE. THE INDUSTRY HAS LONG CLAIMED THESE PATHWAYS DID NOT EXIST. And they used that as the foundation of all their arguments defending this dangerous form of drilling.

Some media including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are already confused, repeating the usual industry spin that the results are inconclusive and more study needs to be done. Which is what they will always say.

They miss one big point. The industry should have to prove this practice is safe. It shouldn't be up to the people of the region to have to prove it is unsafe, after they get sick. Actually some states have gag orders in place preventing doctors and from discussing information about fracking pollution publicly.

All the laws are in place to protect the gas companies, not the American people.

More industry lies:

The oil and gas industry criticized the study as flawed, as they’re wont to do. But they argue a straw man, claiming that the study says that migrations of mineral fluids happen more frequently in drilling areas. I don’t think that’s what the study said, only that it’s possible for contaminants to move, though it did acknowledge that the pre-existing pathways the brine used to migrate could provide easier access to migration for the fracking fluids. Industry mouthpieces also questioned the time frame of how long it took for the brine to migrate (kind of an “I’ll be gone, you’ll be gone” argument). Scientists are continuing their studies on that aspect.
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Expect the science on this to be as viciously contested as the science on climate change. There’s a lot of money at stake.
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via: http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/07/10/study-fluids-can-migrate-in-marcellus-shale-area/

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A study that found hydraulic fracturing for natural gas puts drinking-water supplies in Pennsylvania at risk of contamination may renew a long-running debate between industry and activists.

The report by researchers at Duke University, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said a chemical analysis of 426 shallow groundwater samples found matches with brine found in rock more than one mile (1.2 kilometers) deep, suggesting paths that would let gas or water flow up after drilling. While the flows weren’t linked to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the study found natural routes for seepage into wells or streams.

“The industry has always claimed that this is a separation zone, and there is no way fluids could flow” from the shale to the aquifers, Avner Vengosh, a professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and one of the study’s eight authors, said in an interview. “We see evidence of hydrologic connectivity.”

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via: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-09/pennsylvania-fracking-can-put-water-sources-at-risk-study-finds

It's true there is a lot of oil industry profit at stake. Evidence continues to mount, continues to be ignored, while the oil industry spreads lies to confuse the issue and slobbers money on politicians to buy the government.

This is a link to the study at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/07/03/1121181109.abstract

Concerned citizens will gather in Washington DC at the end of July to meet each other and promote sanity when it comes to drilling for gas: http://www.stopthefrackattack.org/