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Alex Brandon / AP
Jean Carter is one of the residents of Dimock, Pa., who had been getting free bottled water. She's seen here on Oct. 14 on her property with a natural gas well next door.
A major environmental group tells msnbc.com that come Wednesday it will join forces with 11 families in rural Pennsylvania against the state and a natural gas driller who has stopped shipping free bottled water that was supplied after methane entered the local aquifer.
The families in Dimock, Pa., were told not to drink top water nearly three years ago when 18 water wells were found tainted with methane. In recent months, Cabot has treated the water and the state now says it is fit to drink. Residents dispute that finding.
"A pivotal showdown ... is brewing between residents and industry" over the drilling process known as "fracking," Kate Slusark, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in announcing plans to challenge Pennsylvania's decision allowing Cabot Oil & Gas to discontinue shipments after it said it had cleaned up the damage.
"Even after treatment," the group said in a letter to the state department of environmental protection, "some residents still have found toxic chemicals in their water such as ethylene glycol -- otherwise known as antifreeze. Residents have also indicated that the system has been almost completely ineffective at removing other contaminants."
The families themselves have petitioned the state to get Cabot to restart water deliveries. The families, as well as NRDC, plan to submit arguments on Wednesday, the deadline set by a judge for filing in the case.
The Associated Press earlier reported that state regulators previously determined that Cabot drilled faulty gas wells that allowed methane to escape into Dimock's aquifer. The company denied responsibility, but has been banned from drilling in a 9-square-mile area of Dimock since April 2010.
MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan travels to Dimock to investigate whether natural gas fracking is safe.
Dimock, Slusark said, "has become the national poster child for fracking-gone-wrong."
A Cabot spokesman told AP that the company has worked diligently to resolve the problems in Dimock, located 20 miles south of the New York state line.
"Cabot has reconditioned water wells, drilled new water wells and installed treatment systems that work properly and effectively. Additionally, we have tested the water and the results have proven the water meets federal safe drinking water standards," said George Stark.
The "fracking" process -- whereby chemicals are injected into the ground to separate natural gas from shale rock -- has divided communities across the Northeast, where some welcome the jobs and extra income while others fear environmental impacts.
New York state, for one, has had a three-year moratorium on fracking but is now weighing whether to lift it.
More news and feature stories from msnbc.com:
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Fracking puts people to work. That is a fact. These environmentalist and the epa are looking for a reason to ban it to get a cut of the action and control. If you righteous folks want to get your gas and oil from another country, go ahead and pay the higher amounts and taxes but leave normal working people people alone.
Making crystal meth and contract killings also put people to work. Clean water drives our agriculture. Try working without any food or water.
Primate, but they don't have 60 years of data to support both the industry's statements. Including a shale fracturing study performed by the UK showing fracturing to be safe. I mean come on, there is more data to support frac'ing than global warming and yet we believe in that.
mhr83
Who believes in that? Not all of us or even the majority of us believe in the Al Gore fairly tail. Global warming may happen but through no fault of ours. The plant has went through many warming/freezing cycles before man was even here. What would we blame that on? dinosaur farts?
tiger u ignorant fool u are incapable of of comprehension. untill u learn to function above a 1st grade level do the world a favor and have ur mommy change the password on her computer so u can't interrupt the adults while they are talking.
Tiger, the earth is probably warming. It is probably a good bet that we have some kind of hand in it. I took a thermodynamics course that put down a very linear and logical argument, and while I don't necessarily trust climate modeling I think its clear that CO2 can trap heat.
Funny, i can remember when tobacco companies used to present experts and reams of documentation stating that tobacco doesn't cause cancer. Sound familiar?
I can link life to death and marriage to divorce. Reams of documentation! I can also link mcdonalds to obesity , drinking water too much to drowning and asprin to overdosing. Your so called link means nothing. In fact, for everyone you linke their are others with no proof. The last time I checked, juice has arsentic in it. It doesnt mean we stop drinking fruit juice. Drunk driving supposedly causes accidents but so do cell phones!!!
What could go wrong ?????????????? Ask BP !
My wife works for a water testing lab. Since fracking in the region, they have received calls about flammable drinking water. This supports contentions made in other areas of fracking.
I am not a hippie, but water quality is fundamentally important. It has been said that you cannot grow crops without a tractor. It is equally true that crops, once planted, do not grow well on diesel, and with a farmer dead from dehydration, nobody can drive the tractor. Therefore priority#1=potable water, priority #2 extracting cheap energy.
flammable water would lead more to methane, not frac'ing chemicals. Your wife should have pointed that out.
mhr83
Where would you think the methane suddenly came from? You forgot to mention that methane is simply natural gas that would be released as a result of ground disturbance.( or fracking )
tiger u ignorant fool u are incapable of of comprehension. untill u learn to function above a 1st grade level do the world a favor and have ur mommy change the password on her computer so u can't interrupt the adults while they are talking.
Tiger, methane is also released by coal seams which tend to be shallower and often water wells are drilled through coal seams. Need to know the local geology in this case to judge if that fits.
The only variable is the fracking. The water wells existed before the fracking. People can believe it or not. It is data. I am not going to finance a commercial with a businessman riding a bull to convince anyone. Two issues are occurring, the geologic effect and the chemical injection. Some geologists have suggested that the cushioning effect of oil and gas pockets work as shock absorbers, mitigating seismic events. such as the unusual earthquake in Oklahoma recently.
If fracking is so safe, why are they not required to list the chemicals they use? Food manufacturers also have proprietary information and are required to list their chemicals. Since we obtain our drinking water from the ground, we should take similar precautions.
I am not suggesting some liberal knee-jerk response, but making it impossible to gather data concerning the effects of the procedure is a bad policy overall, and is usually a sign an industry has something to hide.
Cigarette, lead, asbestos, DDT manufacturers etc. all ran the same play....make critics out as job haters, delay public acceptance of the science while maximizing profit. By the time the effects are painfully obvious outside the scientific community, make sure your companies have themselves insulated so that part of their operation can go bankrupt without sinking the entire company. That way the taxpayers get all the liability, and everyone blames the government for not doing something sooner. America became great by innovating scientific solutions to scientific problems, not denying science. IBM created the first microprocessor was created for a company that went bankrupt before it went into production. That does not make the microprocessor a bad idea. We need to invest in solutions, not fears, in my opinion. Companies that poison our water should not get a free pass, they should be investing in a better way to produce energy, not hiding data, in my opinion.
Just why do we need this Fracking gas. With all the land fills producing methane gas (natural gas) they can harness that. also feed lots, Chicken houses, pig farms and etc. Water is a very much needed commoditity. Much more than fracked gas
We don't need it. This is all about a few companies making millions of dollars at the expense of our environment. In fact they aim to share as little money as possible.
When we wound the earth this way, is it like a broken leg to straighten, and hold steady while it mends.
Have you not noticed that where ever you look at solid rock that it is broken into so many pieces that it will not hold water?
How then will this magic drill burst the rock into uncountable pieces to release what it cannot hold?
When the earth is so broken, already, and our countless numbers increase, and the time grows short as our arms weary.
How then shall we heal this fractured earth, what will it be like to have the mountains torn down leveled.
Are we to plant trees, can we cement the earth back together, will all this energy removed be enough to hold the earth steady while it mends.
The waste that pours down the rivers, will surely enter the sea, and from where shall we fish, or build a plant to make clean water.
Long enough, 80 million years from now the earth will have mended, the 4 millionth generation of humans will not remember.
Take out the insurance plan, write into it the law that if this land is destroyed, those who favored it will incur the expense, and those who profited from shall refund the profit. Just to be fair add in that those who are against the disaster, shall be given first choice of the benefits, the liability must be shared.

I live in Cogan Station Pennsylvania and I can asure you that the gas drillers have already destroyed one of the most beautiful places in the world. Three streams; Lycoming, Loyalsock and Pine Creeks have become frack water toilets to the Chesapeake. It is the worst kept secret in these parts that frack water is being dumped directly into our waterways. Police, EPA and DER are woefully understaffed and often corrupt, turning a blind eye to this dumping.
As for "sour grapes" ask Mr. Livermore, a farmer in Cogan House PA about the benevolence of these companies. In light of mass quarantines and subsequent euthanization of cattle herds in Tioga County poisoned by tainted water, he forbade any drilling on his property. Several oil companies, apparently unhappy not to have every inch of PA available to them, called upon two PA representatives to introduce legislation allowing them to drill under Mr Livermore's land from adjacent properties. This practice is called "pooling" and is effectively an eminent domain issue. In effect Mr Livermore's land and water will be destroyed and thus his livelihood.
The oil companies have become the political power in the state of Pennsylvania. No legislation is considered or law passed that is not either drafted by drillers or run past them for approval.
You may want to look at Halburton's (KBR/Halburton) history if any of you think you can believe a word they say. They have covered up gang rapes and are responsible for the deaths of American soldiers by electrocution due to their lousy wiring. Their repsonse to the latter was that they didnt think they had to follow US codes since they were working in another country. Dick Cheyney was a former CEO of Halburton. Our currently elected officials response to all this was to award them another contract. You really can't trust our government or Halbuton. The corruption falls along all party lines.
I would agree that the republicans and teabaggers are a little more corrupt than the democrats, but that is certainly not an endorsement of the democrats. If you go into a prison and pull out 2 or 3 of the most disgusting criminals there, does it really matter that one is slightly worse than the other. Scum is scum, and our politicians are almost all scum, from county clerks to presidents. This country is run by political scum for corporate scum. Anyone who points out the corruption is branded an enemy of capitalism and a left wing liberal. Party politics have gotten us into the mess we find ourselves in. The idealogical radicals which are no different than the islamic fundamentalist radicals. Things aren't going to get better untill we have moderates running things.
Pam, I don't recall Halliburton being mentioned in the article and they are not the only services company. Not sure why you seem to bring them up.
People sure like to complain about a six square mile accident that will heal itself (like the gulf oil spill that was supposed to destroy the gulf.)
It's true that the water in this area has had naturally occuring methane in its water since the first water well was drilled there.
And yet they will still drive their fossil fueled automobile out to the bar for drinks, really endangering the lives of others.
Such hypocrites.
Get out there and protest "big cola" about its overpriced water. Gasoline is cheaper.
Protest "big cola" about its overpriced water? Did you really say that? Will overpriced water destroy the environment and kill people?
The Sierra Club paid for the water delivery Monday to avoid any legal obstacles involved.
Where was the NRDC when hog farms where put up over the largest fresh water aquafer in the world? All that protects it from pig waste is a thin sheet of plastic. Fracing is protected by thousands of feet of cement and pipe. It is a political front for global warming. Which in fact has been happening since the ice age and the death of the dinasouar. Pig farms where put up in the United States because the Europeans made them reuse the waste water. Here with a little bit of under the table money it is not a concern. The point is organizations like the NRDC should not be politically motivated.
In 1993 the Metro XFI had a MPG of over 60 and the Civic VX was above 50. No fancy batteries, and the civic had more HP than base civics and was fairly safe (I owned one with two airbags). Sadly few people bought them. Imagine if we had only bought Civics/XFI's those years and paid over invoice (willingly) what are MPG would be today. No need to Fracking would be there. Our homes are also horrid when it comes to Energy. And who here turns off there AC during the summer? Heat down in the winter?
A shame going "green" will cost our kids so much because we don't really go "green"...
This group needs to be out here in Colorado where they have just begun to frack and cause problems. They are going to begin drilling "test wells" in El Paso County soon. Entire communities exist off well water not to mention agriculture. We are a high plains desert....what are they thinking about?
natural gas is used to produce most of the electricity on the grid. on a national average, 72% of that electricity is lost in generation and transmission. but go buy an electric car because you are so green.
Vega
Great comment. The electric car idiots are about as brain dead as anyone could possibly be. Where do they think electric power comes from? Magic? It's the single least efficient fuel on earth. (But I still appreciate it comes in kinda of handi) but, your comment hit the nail on the head it's the electric car nuts that are polluting the most,but they're too dumb to understand where their majic juice comes from...smile
tiger u ignorant fool u are incapable of of comprehension. untill u learn to function above a 1st grade level do the world a favor and have ur mommy change the password on her computer so u can't interrupt the adults while they are talking.
mhr83 you should listen to JEFF. In WV the gas prices DID NOT follow the rest of the country over the past several years. Union Gas & Oil for example raised prices 400% as a result of prices being increased by its supplier. Come to find out Union bought gas from itself at inflated prices. BUT BIG ENERGY owns the WV PSC and nothing was done except add'l rate increases.
If owning the PSC rate controllers isn't enuf, MASSEY aka DON BLANKENSHIP bought the Supreme Court of this State and already owned the legislature. Big energy gets EVERYTHING they want in WV, notwithstanding the destruction of water supplies in towns including Delbarton, Kermit, Ft Gay and many others, all of which have been destroyed entirely by one Massey fkup or another. And ALL without any liability compliments of bought circuit courts and the "Supremes" .
FRACKING IS, just as Jeff said, WHOLLY UNREGULATED IN WV. But the regulations are being written BY THE GAS INDUSTRY to ensure there is no interference from sick kids or communities whose wells are polluted. The industry will be immune from suit compliments of bought legislators, a governor from Logan County and another with a long history of making his office available for any deed at the right price. Between the Chamber of Commerce, big energy, corrupt courts, and big insurance owning the commissioner here, WV will remain in the 3rd World for decades to come.
And as stated above the politicians who are in the pocket of the greedmongers tout jobs to the poor slobs here who have nothing and no future save selling their souls to the devils who pilfer the vast beauty of this State.
Only when the last tree is cut, last lump of coal taken, last mcf of gas pumped will the whores move from the capital and the courts and perhaps finally allow WV to recover from being the HAITI of the USA.
Jar, mountaineer energy forum. Track the links to the regulations. There are also federal regulations that apply. Also I was in WV over Thanksgiving, it is hardly 3rd world. I really suggest you do some travelling if you want to compare things to the 3rd world. Again there are federal court systems. If you got screwed by your specific utility I would suggest switching if you can.
Jar, mountaineer energy forum. Track the links to the regulations. There are also federal regulations that apply. Also I was in WV over Thanksgiving, it is hardly 3rd world. I really suggest you do some travelling if you want to compare things to the 3rd world. Again there are federal court systems. If you got screwed by your specific utility I would suggest switching if you can.
mhr83- unfortunately, you are wasting your time. these are the same folks who say no to nuclear and no to turbines (because it could harm migratory birds) but use electricity shamelessly not knowing where or how it gets to their outlet. solar, yes! but you cant produce enough or store it so 95% of the country can sit in the dark. natural gas is the best source to produce electricity and even that is wasteful and inefficient. until we refine the renewable technology it is the best alternative.
I realize no one will change their mind. Oddly we all want expert testimony for global warming, but have someone with a geology and engineering background talk about frac'ing and they must be lying. This is the world we live in, but the lies about industry don't go away, so we might as well at least make people read some facts.
My bet is that MHR83 is being paid to blog on this article. he stinks of corporate bribery
Big T, why would anyone pay another person to post on this blog? I mean seriously this is an anonymous blog about a single article, who cares? Where is the effect of this in the real world. I am sorry but your opinions aren't important enough to get someone paid to try to change your mind.
Good grief! What is all the fuss about? The planet Earth has been fracking itself since before the beginning of recorded history. It is called plate movement and continental drift and stuff like that folks.
Old man
Thats true,but the earth also produces lava,high winds, and floods and I really don't think we should manufactor those. So in short your statement is pretty lame.
tiger u ignorant fool u are incapable of of comprehension. untill u learn to function above a 1st grade level do the world a favor and have ur mommy change the password on her computer so u can't interrupt the adults while they are talking.
I just retired (34 years)from the largest natural gas company in the U.S and can honestly tell you that as utilities go,natural gas companies offer the best product,but they are far from being angels . Shareholder profit is the driving force when it comes to honesty. There is a lot of disagreement even in the company as to how safe the fracking process is. The bottom line is whether the profit margin outweights the lawsuits. The general view is that it does. The ones making the decisions plan on retiring long before the real truth is known.
tiger u ignorant fool u are incapable of of comprehension. untill u learn to function above a 1st grade level do the world a favor and have ur mommy change the password on her computer so u can't interrupt the adults while they are talking.
Jason, you really have to be a tool to paste the same comment below every single one of tiger's
This was revealed long ago in a film called 'Gasland' -
How in the world can the gas/oil companies get away with this? I bet they wouldn't do this to their water supply. One case where I'm definitely a NIMBY!
I will admit distrust when it comes to energy corporations, but will equally admit the information concerning frac'ing is alot to sort through. However, I'll offer a curious event and let readers makes their own conclusions.
I've lived in Oklahoma my entire life (almost 50 years), never experiencing an earthquake until this year, and now I have experienced the rumbling and bouncing 3 times. Now, I do know there is a fault line that runs through much of Oklahoma; however, even when considered to be going through an "active" period, the quake activity was negligible.
Recently, the earthquakes here made national news. A few have been quick to point out Oklahoma has undergone a severe drought and, when combined with seismic activity, could account for the heightened shaking. However, it was also brought up frac'ing was going on near the epicenter of the quakes. I do find it a little more than suspicious that since the frac'ing ceased in that area, so have the earthquakes. Coincidence? I think not.
Personally, I equate frac'ing to beating a dying horse: when the horse is finally dead, the owners will go on and find another horse to beat to death until he runs out of horses. What will remain are only the carcasses, and the owner will gnash his teeth in frustration because there are no more horses. I do believe it was this mindset that helped light the fire of innovation to come up with other viable forms of transportation (steam, combustible engines). We currently have the knowledge and capability to turn to other forms of viable energy that doesn't have such negative impact. Why are we not being more vocal about being adamantly opposed to archaic and finite sources of energy? If we truly want energy independence, we have to make a REAL break and use INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES. Yes, the cost of starting up wind farms and solar farms is expensive, but so was oil & gas drilling when in it's first stages of infancy. We CAN have clean energy, it will create SUSTAINABLE jobs within our borders...we just have to get certain industries out of politicians' pockets. Voters, demand term limits and put an end to lobbyists as we know them - demand the end to campaign contributions from corporations! Lobbying is in itself not a bad thing, but it has been severely tainted by money. Level the playing field by ending those contributions.
fracking is not the issue. any drilling through a shallow water aquafer ( franking or non fracking) must be done properly. the report indicated that 3-5 % of the wells are not done properly, that is the cemetation job is inadequate. that is a horrendous failure rate.the industry better admit it has a cemetation issue or it will eventually destroy itself. it is not complicated. please don"t bore me with solar. it is too cost prohibitive. germany just spent 50billion euros on this total idiocy and if they would have built 5( five), 4th-generation nuclear plants they would have gotten 100x more power. solar is total bs. wind has potential but it not always available and that is a huge shortfall. geothermal where possible is very good economically and reliably. also, don"t tell me about how clean solar is. the semiconductor industry uses the most dangerous chemicals on the planet.
Don't frack, we really don't need jobs. And who needs an alternative source of energy, with oil at $100, that burns cleaner than any fuel? Lets wait 50 or 60 years for an alternative source of energy.
Solyndra anyone?