Eight Members of Congress Call for EPA to Reopen Contaminated Water Studies Near Fracking Fields

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Eight members of Congress, led by Democratic Representative Matt Cartwright (PA), have written to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking it to โ€œinvestigate and addressโ€ water contamination in Dimock, PA,ย Parker County, TX, and Pavillion, WY.

The EPA‘s initial investigations indicatedย drinking water contamination wasย caused byย oil and gas extraction.ย The EPA compelled industry to provide clean water to those affected, but later abandoned itsย investigationsย without issuing final reports,ย letting industry off theย hook.ย 

In the letter to Gina McCarthy, head of the EPA, requesting the agency reopen its investigations, the congressmen state,ย โ€œA patchwork of state regulations, exemptions from many of our federal environmental laws and a lack of enforcement have forced communities living in and near to heavily drilled areas to pay the price for the [fracking] boom.โ€ย 

This is welcome news for people like Texan Shelly Perdue, who can set her water on fire. She lives about 600 feet from the Range Resources’ย hydraulic fracturing site that theย EPA held responsible for contaminating Steven Lipsky’sย well water inย 2011.

Herย trailer home is just as much her castle as Lipsky’s sprawling mansion is his. She owns her land outright and saw her place as her own private paradise until Range Resourcesย started operations across the street. Though her property wasnโ€™t part of the EPAโ€™s initial investigation, scientists from Duke University and the University of Arlington have included her water in studies currently inย progress.


Shelly Perdue on her front porch ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky

Unlike Lipsky, she doesn’t have the financial meansย to have water trucked in. She wonโ€™t drink her well water, but she uses it for everything else. Methane escapes when her water is turned on, filling her home withย levels considered to be explosive. Perdue can’t afford to move so she vents her home the best sheย can.ย 

After the EPA investigation of Lipsky’s contaminated well water concluded the fracking company was responsible, itย issued an emergency order compelling Range Resourcesย to deliver clean water toย Lipsky.

The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry in Texas, disputed the EPA‘s findings, as did Range Resources.ย Though the EPA rescinded its emergency order 15 months later in a move to settle lawsuits with Range Resources, the EPA came under fire by a group of Republican senators who believed the agency overreached by conducting the investigation and asked the Inspector General to investigate.ย The Inspector General cleared the EPA of wrongdoing in a report issued at the end of lastย year.ย 

Despite the Inspector General’s findings, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee held a hearingย in January 2014 entitledย โ€œExamining the Science of EPA Overreach: A Case Study inย Texas.โ€

Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porterโ€™s statement prepared for the hearing states:ย  โ€œThanks to the oil and gas industry’s best practices and strict regulation and enforcement by the Railroad Commission, there has never been a confirmed case of groundwater contamination due to hydraulic fracturing inย Texas.โ€

His testimony reiterates that the Texas Railroad Commission already cleared Range Resources of any wrongdoing. And the commission has dismissed the EPAโ€™s findings, including the isotopic data provided by Dr. Geoffrey Thyne that indicated Range Resources’ well could be the source of methane in Lipskyโ€™sย well.

Parkerโ€™s testimony reads: โ€œThe EPA has proved to be a sensational, unscientific, and politically motivated bureaucracy, tasked with furthering the current administrationโ€™s anti-fossil fuelย agenda.โ€

Lauren Pagel,ย policy director ofย Earthworks, an environmental organization,ย points out thatย no one from the Inspector Generalโ€™s office or anyone directly affected by fracking was invited toย testify.

โ€œWhether itโ€™s climate change or fracking, this committee ignores the science they donโ€™t like when it undermines the conclusions theyโ€™ve already reached,โ€ sheย says.ย 

Meanwhile, the Americans Against Fracking advisory board and more than 200 other groups addressed a letter toย President Obama, asking him to compel the EPA to reopen its investigations into water contamination, which the EPA had alreadyย started but neverย concluded.

The groups say the EPA abdicated its responsibilities and local residents have paid the price. They point out that the Inspector General’s report raised questions about the EPA‘s decision to drop its investigation in Parker County and urged the president to takeย action.

Besides the EPA‘s own initial reports into water-well contamination in Parker County, scientists fromย Duke University found levels of methane above explosive levels in residentsโ€™ย homes, including Perdue’s and Lipsky’s. So did Stacey Systems Inc, an independent lab Lipsky hired to test his and some of his neighbors’ย wells.

The Railroad Commission reopened itsย investigation this year after more residents filed complaints about contaminated water and Duke University released results showing higher levels of contamination in the air and water in the area than their own previous reports showed.ย  Duke Universityโ€™s results show combustible levels of methane in some of theย wells.


Democratic Rep. Lon Burnam with Steven Lipsky at an open house he held to show the public he can light his water on fire.ย Burnam and Lipsky stand next to the water wellโ€™s gas vent that is alsoย flammableย when he turns the well on. ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermanskyย 

People like Perdue and Lipsky are left wondering whom the EPA serves. Lipsky went to the hearing held by the Houseย Science Committeeย and tried to talk to Gina McCarthy outside, but says she wouldn’t speak to him. The Americans Against Fracking advisory board has asked McCarthy to meet with affected citizens, and noted she has met with leaders of the fracking industry.ย ย ย 

In the meantime, Perdue lives in constant fear.ย ย 

โ€œIf my house catches on fire I wouldn’t even be able to use my water to put it out, because itย could make it worse,โ€ she says.ย ย ย 

Itโ€™s as if teams for and against the EPA regulating industry are stuck in a ping pong match while the citizens whose lives are at stake watch from theย sidelines.

Julie-Dermansky-022
Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers Universityโ€™s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

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