Tell the EPA to Investigate Fracking Water Contamination
Over the past year two years, the Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly shut down its own fracking-related water contamination investigations after being pressured by the oil and gas industry.
1. Parker County, TX – The EPA began an investigation after a homeowner reported that his drinking water was bubbling like champagne. But after fracking company Range Resources threatened not to participate in another study in March 2012, the EPA set aside the “smoking gun” report connecting methane migration to fracking.
2. Dimock, PA – The mid-Atlantic EPA began testing water in Dimock, PA after residents complained that their drinking water was contaminated from nearby fracking operations. But the federal EPA closed the investigation in July 2012 even after the staff members who had been testing the water warned of methane, manganese and arsenic contamination.
3. Pavilion, WY – The EPA released a draft report in 2011 linking fracking to contamination of an underground aquifer. After drawing criticism from the oil and gas industry, the EPA handed the investigation over to the state of Wyoming in June 2013 to be completed with funding from EnCana, the drilling company charged with contaminating the water wells in the first place.
This is unbelievable, and totally unacceptable. The EPA is supposed to protect American citizens from threats like fracking, not bow to the oil and gas industry.
Below are some petitions. Please consider signing these, sending them to your friends, or if you are with an organization, using similar language to create your own petition and send to your email list: