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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.
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Natural gas drilling, fracking, production is one of the least objectional and environmentally threatening technologies. Moreover, as a fuel, natural gas has NO EQUAL.
Amazing to me how the one 'forward looking' eastern seaboard is now overpopulated with NIMBY's. Frankly, they have no problem using oil and gas produced in Texas or Louisiana or Kansas or Oklahoma or North Dakota or Canada or California but "Oh no, we will not allow production in Pennsylvania or New York. WAKE UP and pull your heads out, please. With only modest efforts (and I support stringent) fracking represents virtually NO Threat-------of course it makes for great television and motion picture drama and dramatics----BUT get the facts.
Development of the technology to produce huge new quantities of domestic natural gas is perhaps the BEST NEWS since winning WWII. Of course, far too many in Government don't know how to deal with good news anymore.....they like 'crisis' mode as it makes them feel more needed.
Agree however there is currently such a glut of natural gas being produced in Alaska, gas prices in the US have plummeted. They are actually considering shipping it overseas to get a higher price. Truly pathetic when you consider how energy independent we could be, if we had any intelligent leadership in Washington. But Oil buys votes..always has, always will..
La, Al, Tex, Okla, Miss, Utah, ND and Wyoming should all secede. RICH I TELL YOU! RICH!
Mark; I agree, I was a Treator (PE) that acidized and fractured oil and gas formations for many years, it never tainted ground water, This is a scare tactic. After the well is drilled, cased in and cemented, perforated then it is acidized and fractured, all in that zone or pocket. if gas has worked its way up into ground water, it was long before the fracturing happen.
EMOTIONAL MORONICITY RULES.
1) Do YOu BELIEVE FRACKING CAUSES SHALLOW WATER CONTAMINATION?
WRONG, ANY DRILLING WILL CAUSE CONTAMINTION IF THE WELL BORING IS DONE WRONG.
ACCORDING TO THIS REPORT, 3-5% of a small sample of wells showed this to be the case.
That is an unacceptable failure rate.
2) All other forms of modernicity use clean technology.
WRONG. The computer you use required the most deadly chemicals and lots of water to manufacture.
3) Solar is economical.
WRONG. Germany just subsidized 50 Billion Euros worth and now they know they got cheated.
They could put up 5 4th and 5th generation nuclear plants and get 100X more power.
I live in a country of children. Oh how you are going to get taken.
Mark, that was ridiculous. Also if you say this report that typically means you intend to include it.
Let's think for a moment, everyone on here is using some type of energy. Electricty to power your computer, natural gas (If applicable) to cook your food and heat your home, or maybe propane, gasolene to run your cars, oil to lubricate it,, etc, etc, etc. So which of you on here is willing to convert and become Amish and eliminate your need for energy consumption? That's what I thought, you'll all condemn the process but consume the product. Amazing
In Rulison, CO near where well water came out of taps flammable after massive gas drilling, Big Oil/Gas is seeking permits to drill and frack around the site of an underground nuclear test. How about that "clean energy" cooking you meals and heating your house?
If this is the well featured in gasland they actually traced that gas to the coal seams that the water well was drilled through.
Who cares pollute our waters our lands and make millions then leave the poor to live in the squalor. Our Government is out of Control and no longer cares about the views of you the miserable public. Bow before your new corporate masters. Not me while i breath ever shall i.
Of course the oil companies will win. Money always wins over health and the environment. However, isn't it ironic (or idiotic depending on your view) that so much natural gas is being produced in Alaska, there is a glut in the US, which has causes gas price to actually go down. In fact, prices have declined so much that the oil companies in Alaska are asking for permission to EXPORT the liquified natural gas produced there overseas where they can higher prices, rather than shipping it to the US.
It seems to me that all the contention about "fracking" is just a money grab by the oil companies. They don't even need the gas, more supply will just drive prices down further. What they do need is the states to enact legislation to allow the practice. And, until they can prove the practice is safe to freshwater supplies and people, permission should be withheld.
In addition, if this country actually had any intelligent leadership, we could become much more energy independent TOMORROW, by utilizing our extensive gas reserves in Alaska to power fleet vehicles and power plants, rather than using Gasoline. Heaven forbid our "leaders" should excercise that level of common sense.
I can read you're all still complaining but doing nothing to help the dependence on fossil fuels. From tree huggers to supporters you all use the same products, complain it is killing everyone yet live the lifestyle that demands these products. Why not WALK to DC and protest? Oh leave your cell phones I pods, etc behind, they all used fossil fuels in the manufacturing process. People on here are all mouth and that's it.
Hey i got a real question we frack apart our continent and what happens during an earth quake don't those fracks come apart easier, will we sink? where is science on this we never see it in the news? surely someone worries about this crap.
We don't have enough equipment to frac our continent.
When methane contaminated water is treated with Chlorine, as is commonly used in municipal water treatment plants, it produces disinfection bi-products such as Trihalomethanes, or chloroforms, which are known to cause bladder and colon cancer.