New Study Shows No Evidence of Groundwater Contamination From Fracking, But Doesn’t Quite Let Shale Gas Off the Hook by Anna Sanders

                                  Tower drilling into the Marcellus Shale in Lycoming County, PA (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Despite claims of polluted drinking water because of fracking throughout the United States, a new study shows little or no evidence of groundwater contamination as a result of the gas extraction method. The study, released Feb. 16 by the Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, found that many concerns associated with hydraulic fracturing (such as groundwater contamination) are related to processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations.

The study examined evidence from reports of groundwater contamination in three prominent hydraulic fracturing sites—the Barnett Shale in North Texas, the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, New York and portions of Appalachia, and the Haynesville Shale in western Louisiana and northeast Texas. Released at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver, British Columbia, the study shows that many reports of contamination of groundwater aren’t unique to fracking, but can be traced back to spills above-ground or mishandling or wastewater. 

“I think we refuted the sense that hydrofracking liquid was going to leak up into the shallow groundwater that people drink,” said Charles Groat, an Energy Institute associate director who led the project.

Hydrofracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial method of natural gas extraction in which a mixture of water, sand, and some 336 chemicals are pumped into the ground to fracture shale deposits 5,000-20,000 feet below the surface, releasing gas for collection. Many environmental groups believe the water, sand, and chemical mixture can contaminate groundwater—possibly threatening local water supplies. 

Though the report disproved these claims, Groat stressed that shale gas development has the potential to contaminate water in other ways.

“If there was a spill on the surface, if there was a casing failure, if there was a leak in the wastewater pond…the potential there for those flows to get into water is more worrisome than the hydrofracking itself,” he said.

The report’s findings may or may not conflict with an Environmental Protection Agency investigation of the Pavillion, WY, groundwater. In the draft report of the investigation published in December, the EPA found that “samples taken from the Agency’s deep monitoring wells in the aquifer indicates detection of synthetic chemicals, like glycols and alcohols consistent with gas production and hydraulic fracturing fluids, benzene concentrations well above Safe Drinking Water Act standards and high methane levels,” according to an agency press release. The new Energy Institute report suggests contamination like this could be caused by above-ground spills or other accidents of shale gas development instead of fracking. 

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