Flammable tap water--it's a fact, not a myth
Posted September 3, 2010 in Health and the Environment
The HBO documentary Gasland has gotten a lot of attention, and rightfully so. The film lets viewers see for themselves how natural gas drilling has dramatically changed the lives of ordinary Americans now living with air and water contamination, in some cases destroying their quality of life, their property, sometimes their livelihoods and finances. One scene in the film shows a gentleman in Colorado lighting his tap water on fire, due to methane in the water. The industry disregards this incident.
It's a fact, however, that natural gas operations have contaminated drinking water around the country. One piece of evidence is methane in drinking water, and if methane has made its way into drinking water sources, there may be additional contaminants that are much more dangerous to human health. Methane in water caused by drilling operations has been documented in Ohio, Colorado, and Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Oil and Gas Management has drafted a report on "Stray Natural Gas Migration Associated with Oil and Gas Wells." This paper documents cases in two dozen communities where new or operating oil or gas wells have led to methane migrating into drinking water wells and streams, affecting many Pennsylvania families. Some cases are still under investigation. And there are over three dozen more cases where the water contamation is linked to old, abandoned wells. Of course, all the new wells currently being drilled will one day be old and abandoned, too, so we should not discount the contamination risk from these wells.
Comments are closed for this post.
Comments
jonathan ames — Sep 5 2010 05:32 PM
If the documentary, "Gasland", is indeed accurate and the energy companies carrying out the procedure called "fracking" or "frakking" are indeed putting toxic chemicals deep into the earth where they can get in to the aquifers used to provide fresh water for citizens and livestock, those companies must make public what chemicals they are using and be prevented from using chemicals that could be dangerous to living creatures. It is untenable that anyone is allowed to use toxic chemicals either in the earth or in the oceans when they don't know whether or not they are dangerous. It seems to me that it is past time to stop subsidizing companies who are making billions poisoning us...the energy companies are polluting the oceans and the earth, the agricultural giants are using unsafe fertilizers and genetic engineering, and the beef and poultry and dairy producers are using growth hormones that have been banned in Europe as unsafe. It would appear that we are paying these multi-billion dollar industries to poison us! Just does NOT make any sense!
Cynthia Ballinger — Sep 6 2010 12:52 PM
I agree with you Jonathan! We need to be more involved with what is going on with our Mother Earth in every way and stop the damage being done now before it is to late!
John Lykens — Sep 6 2010 09:46 PM
Amy,
If you think flaming tap water is bad, the Susquehanna River is bubbling up with Methane Gas right here in Bradford County, PA. For more information and actual video, see http://www.rocket-courier.com. You do a great job! Keep up the good work.