According to a Duke University study to be published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, scientists have documented the first systematic link between methane gas from deep Marcellus and Utica shales and contamination of drinking water wells near active gas wells in northeastern Pennsylvania and New York. The study found that methane levels in private drinking water wells was 17 times higher on average in wells within 1,000 feet of a deep natural gas well, based on water sampling done at 68 wells. Methane was found in 85 percent of the wells. SOURCE: post-gazette.com
Dr. Tom Jiunta, president and founder of the Luzerne County-based Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, told The Times-Ledaer that the report “documented pathways from where they frack to drinking water supplies.” The paper goes on to report:
“In a prepared statement, Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, said Pennsylvania has ‘an extensive and well-documented history of naturally occurring methane impacting private water wells, long before Marcellus development began just a few years ago.’
“She called the report ‘at best inconclusive. Further, the fact that is was prepared, in part, by a vocal and outspoken natural gas production critic raises a host of questions regarding academic veracity.’” SOURCE: http://www.timesleader.com
Ms. Klaber holds an undergraduate degree in environmental science from Bucknell University and her Masters in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.
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