A recent media report on a peer-reviewed study based on 180 samples from water wells near Ohio fracking sites was headlined: “Univ. of Cincy fracking study finds surprising groundwater results.”
What exactly was so surprising?
The report is one of more than two dozen scientific studies published since 2010 that concluded fracking is not a major threat to groundwater. No fewer than 10 peer-reviewed studies examining more than 3,000 water wells across virtually every major U.S. shale play have been released in the past five years, with each one finding no evidence of that fracking has contaminated groundwater.
The reason? As the EPA’s landmark, six-year study on the subject concluded in 2016, “[H]ydraulic fracturing operations are unlikely to generate sufficient pressure to drive fluids into shallow drinking water zones,” due to the fact that the process typically occurs a mile or more below the surface.
To put this another way, even though the claim that fracking contaminates groundwater continues to be a cornerstone of the “Keep It in the Ground” movement’s unrelenting campaign to undermine American energy production, there is simply no credible scientific evidence to support that claim.
The University of Cincinnati report states plainly that researchers “found no increase in methane concentration or composition in groundwater over the four years of the study, despite the presence of new shale gas wells drilled in the study area.” And this took place at a time when drilling surged: When the study period began in 2012, there were 115 drilling permits in the region. By the end of the study period, in 2015, there were more than 1,600 permits.
Basically, there wasn’t a shred of evidence that fracking contaminated water.
This was the complete opposite of what the researchers hypothesized, but to their credit,
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
What exactly was so surprising?
The report is one of more than two dozen scientific studies published since 2010 that concluded fracking is not a major threat to groundwater. No fewer than 10 peer-reviewed studies examining more than 3,000 water wells across virtually every major U.S. shale play have been released in the past five years, with each one finding no evidence of that fracking has contaminated groundwater.
The reason? As the EPA’s landmark, six-year study on the subject concluded in 2016, “[H]ydraulic fracturing operations are unlikely to generate sufficient pressure to drive fluids into shallow drinking water zones,” due to the fact that the process typically occurs a mile or more below the surface.
To put this another way, even though the claim that fracking contaminates groundwater continues to be a cornerstone of the “Keep It in the Ground” movement’s unrelenting campaign to undermine American energy production, there is simply no credible scientific evidence to support that claim.
The University of Cincinnati report states plainly that researchers “found no increase in methane concentration or composition in groundwater over the four years of the study, despite the presence of new shale gas wells drilled in the study area.” And this took place at a time when drilling surged: When the study period began in 2012, there were 115 drilling permits in the region. By the end of the study period, in 2015, there were more than 1,600 permits.
Basically, there wasn’t a shred of evidence that fracking contaminated water.
This was the complete opposite of what the researchers hypothesized, but to their credit,
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
