As the country awaits results from a nationwide safety study on the natural gas drilling process of fracking, a separate government investigation into contamination in a place where residents have long complained that drilling fouled their water has turned up alarming levels of underground pollution.
A pair of environmental monitoring wells drilled deep into an aquifer in Pavillion, Wyo., contain high levels of cancer-causing compounds and at least one chemical commonly used in hydraulic fracturing, according to new water test results released yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The findings are consistent with water samples the EPA has collected from at least 42 homes in the area since 2008, when ProPublica began reporting on foul water and health concerns in Pavillion and the agency started investigating reports of contamination there.
Last year -- after warning residents not to drink or cook with the water and to ventilate their homes when they showered -- the EPA drilled the monitoring wells to get a more precise picture of the extent of the contamination.
The entire article is well worth the time and effort of the click. The current owner of the wells is a canadian company which still refuses to accept that their operation has anything to do with this. It has recently been sold to a TX company....which makes me fear for the continued rape of our environment by the monied interests. I sincerely doubt another company would have bought this operation for millions if they were the least bit worried about silly little ole environmental regulations shutting it down.
My sympathies to the people who live in this area.