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Fire water?
May 10, 2011 10:32 am
Abrahm Lustgarten in ProPublica reports about a scientific study that seems to prove what viewers of the movie "Gasland" saw on film: some water near hydraulic fracturing natural gas drilling can be lit on fire. The peer-reviewed, study published Mon. May 9 was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. "They found that levels of flammable methane gas in drinking water wells increased to dangerous levels when those water supplies were close to natural gas wells," the story says. "They also found that the type of gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type of gas that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground, strongly implying that the gas may be seeping underground through natural or manmade faults and fractures, or coming from cracks in the well structure itself." Hudson Valley Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who represents an area south of the WGXC listening area said in the story, "This study provides eye-opening scientific evidence about methane contamination and the risks that irresponsible natural gas drilling poses for drinking water supplies.... It provides yet another reason why more study of the environmental and health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing is needed." Read the entire story in Pro Publica.