Breaking: Obama EPA Shut Down Weatherford, TX Shale Gas Water Contamination Study

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Theย Associated Pressย has a breaking investigative story out todayย revealing that the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) censored a smoking gun scientific report in March 2012 thatย it had contracted out to a scientist who conducted field data on 32 water samples in Weatherford, TX.

That report, according to the AP, would have explicitly linked methane migration to hydraulic fracturing (โ€œfrackingโ€) in Weatherford, a city with 25,000+ citizens located in the heart of theย Barnett Shaleย geologic formation 30 minutes fromย Dallas.

It was authored by Geoffrey Thyne, a geologist formerly on the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines and University of Wyoming before departing from the latter for a job in the private sector working for Interralogic Inc. in Ft Collins, CO.ย 

This isn’t the first time Thyne’s scientific research has been shoved aside, either. Thyne wrote two landmark studies on groundwater contamination in Garfield County, CO, the first showing that it existed, the second confirming that the contamination was directly linked to fracking in theย area.

It’s the second study that got him inย trouble.

โ€œThyne says he was told to cease his research by higher-ups. He didnโ€™t,โ€ The Checks and Balances Project explained.ย โ€œAnd when it came to renew his contract, Thyne was cutย loose.โ€

From Smoking Gun to Censorship: Range Resourcesย Link

The Obama EPA‘s Weatherford, TX study was long-in-the-making, with its orgins actually dating back to a case of water contamination in 2010. The victim:ย Steveย Lipsky.ย 

โ€œAt first, the Environmental Protection Agency believed the situation was so serious that it issued a rare emergency order in late 2010 that said at least two homeowners were in immediate danger from a well saturated with flammable methane,โ€ย the AP wrote.ย 

APย proceeded to explainย that Lipsky had โ€œreported his family’s drinking water had begun ‘bubbling’ like champagneโ€ andย that his โ€œwellโ€ฆcontains so much methane that theโ€ฆwater [is] pouring out of a garden hose [that] can beย ignited.โ€

The driller in this case was a corporation notorious for intimidating local communities and governmental officials at all levels of governance:ย Range Resources. Range, in this case, set up shop for shale gas production in a โ€œwooded area about a mile from Lipsky’s home,โ€ย according to the AP.ย 

Asย DeSmogBlogย revealed in November 2011,ย Range Resources utilizes psychological warfare techniquesย as part of its overarching public relationsย strategy.

Due to the grave health concerns associated with the presence of methane and benzene in drinking water, the Obama EPA โ€œordered Rangeโ€ฆto take steps to clean their water wells and provide affected homeowners with safe water,โ€ย wrote the AP.ย 

Range’s response? It โ€œthreatened not to cooperateโ€ with the Obama EPA‘s study on fracking’s link to water contamination. The non-cooperation led to the Obama EPA suing Rangeย Resources.ย 

It was during this phase of the struggle where things got interesting. As theย AP explained,

Believing the case was headed for a lengthy legal battle, the Obama EPA asked an independent scientist named Geoffrey Thyne to analyze water samples taken from 32 water wells. In the report obtained by the AP, Thyne concluded from chemical testing that the gas in the drinking water could have originated from Range Resources’ nearby drillingย operation.

Despite this smoking gun, everything was soon shut down, with the Obama EPA reversing its emergency order, terminating the court battle and censoring Thyne’s report. Theย AP explainedย that the Obama EPA has โ€œrefused to answer questions about theย decision.โ€

โ€œI just can’t believe that an agency that knows the truth about something like that, or has evidence like this, wouldn’t use it,โ€ย Lipsky, who now pays $1,000 a month to have water hauled to his family’s house,ย told the AP.

โ€œDuke Studyโ€ Co-Author Confirms Veracity of Thyne’sย Studyย 

Robert Jackson, aย Professor of Global Environmental Changeย at Duke University and co-author of theย โ€œDuke Studyโ€ linking fracking to groundwater contaminationย did an independent peer review of Thyne’s censored findings. He found that it is probable that the methane in Lipsky’s well water likely ended up there thanks to the frackingย process.ย 

Range predictably dismissed Thyne and Jackson as โ€œanti-industry.โ€

Americans Against Fracking: An โ€œUnconscionableโ€ย Decision

Americans Against Frackingย summed up the situation best in a scathing pressย release:

It is unconscionable that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is tasked with safeguarding our nationโ€™s vital natural resources, would fold under pressure to the oil and gas industryโ€ฆIt is again abundantly clear that the deep pocketed oil and gas industry will stop at nothing to protect its own interests, even when mounting scientific evidence shows that drilling and fracking pose a direct threat to vital drinking waterย supplies.

There’s also a tragic human side to thisย tale.ย 

โ€œThis has been total hell,โ€ย Lipsky told the AP. โ€œIt’s been taking a huge toll on my family and on ourย life.โ€

Photo Credit:ย ShutterStockย |ย Aaronย Amat

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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