Duke University Study: Fracking Isn’t Contaminating Ground Water.
It’s been the crux of their narrative against this sector of the economy that’s rapidly growing throughout the country.
The study was three years in the making, peer reviewed, and was recently published in the European journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
They did say that surface water might be impacted due to spills: Fracking has not contaminated groundwater in northwestern West Virginia, but accidental spills of fracking wastewater may pose a threat to surface water in the region, according to a new study led by scientists at Duke University.
“Based on consistent evidence from comprehensive testing, we found no indication of groundwater contamination over the three-year course of our study,” said Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
”However, we did find that spill water associated with fracked wells and their wastewater has an impact on the quality of streams in areas of intense shale gas development.” “The bottom-line assessment,” he said, “is that groundwater is so far not being impacted, but surface water is more readily contaminated because of the frequency of spills.” […] The Duke team collaborated with researchers from The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University and the French Geological Survey to sample water from 112 drinking wells in northwestern West Virginia over a three-year period.
Samples were tested for an extensive list of contaminants, including salts, trace metals and hydrocarbons such as methane, propane and ethane.
Remember when the EPA dumped 3 million gallons of toxic water into Colorado’s river systems in 2015?
The clean up costs were projected to soar into the hundreds of millions, and it was completely avoidable.
The EPA’s clean up crew royally screwed up and released the water into the Animas River, which connects to the San Juan River.