New data, but not much new in Wyo. fracking study

By Mead Gruver

Associated Press

Published: Thursday, Sept. 27 2012 4:50 p.m. MDT

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FILE - In a Nov. 8, 2007 file photo, John Fenton and others examine neighbor Louis Meeks' water in Pavillion, Wyo., where federal officials indicated people shouldn't drink water from 40 wells in and around this central Wyoming farming and ranching community. The U.S. Geological Survey plans to release results Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 of the latest testing in the Pavillion area, where some homeowners and the EPA suspect hydraulic fracking has tainted the groundwater.

Casper Star-Tribune, Dustin Bleizeffer, File, Associated Press

Summary

Environmentalists and the petroleum industry haven't changed their minds about any damage done by hydraulic fracturing to the groundwater in Wyoming.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Environmentalists and the petroleum industry haven't changed their minds about any damage done by hydraulic fracturing to the groundwater in Wyoming.

That's despite new groundwater sampling data the U.S. Geological Survey has released from the gas-drilling area of Pavillion in west-central Wyoming.

The new data follows a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report last year that theorized fracking might have affected the groundwater in that area.

Fracking blasts water, sand and chemicals deep into well holes to open fissures and improve the flow of oil and gas. Some Pavillion-area homeowners say their well water stinks of chemicals.

The Natural Resources Defense Council says the new data still shows fracking is a threat. Pavillion gas field operator Encana says the new data still shows that drilling and fracking didn't affect the groundwater.

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