Drinking Water Full Of Methane In Rural Pennsylvania From Natural Gas Drilling (VIDEO)

In this CNN video, residents in rural Pennsylvania are furious over the contamination of their drinking water, and they allege that the natural gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is to blame.

One resident has been drawing clean drinking water from his well for 50 years, only to now have it polluted with methane gas. He is able to ignite the vapor from the murky water, and fumes visibly steam over the edge of its container -- certainly not something anyone would judge as potable.

Many of the residents are suing Cabot Oil & Gas who, in the case of the Sautner family, now have to truck in clean drinking water after Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection deemed the company responsible for contamination, though Cabot continues to deny any responsibility, telling CNN, "We don't believe the process is contaminating the groundwater."

Greg Sautner wants the company to build a clean water pipeline and pay for their house, which now has a methane release stack in the yard "to keep it from blowing up," according to Sautner.

"This is the dirty side of natural gas," Julie Sautner tells CNN.

WATCH:

Comments

[8020vision]

10:14 AM on 09/17/2010

For more stunning video and info on media coverage of this in Vanity Fair, Bloomberg and HBO, see:
http://8020vision.com/2010/07/06/shale-gas-exploration-the-coming-storm/

This is a pervasive problem that threatens potable community water systems.

[thundermummy]

07:04 PM on 09/16/2010

Good bye Bradford County. You were so beautiful once.

[MorganT]

01:39 PM on 09/16/2010

After watching a documentary about this I have to scoff when I see commercials talking about how clean natural gas is.

[anothervoice]

10:53 AM on 09/16/2010

The fact that they have to fracture the shale to get at the gas - i.e., breaking the seal, pretty much defines the situation. If you hadn't broken the seal, then the gas wouldn't have migrated into the water table.

Amazing how full of denial you can be when there's money to be made at the expense of others happiness. I think those natural gas executives should all be drinking that ground water.

Just be standing back when they belch....

[stape45]

09:04 AM on 09/15/2010

Surely, a few well-placed dollars will make it all perfectly acceptable to the powers-that-be.

[rougebaisers]

08:09 AM on 09/15/2010

The FracDrilling Toxifying of America. Your POLITICIANS know about it and are doing NOTHING to protect YOU.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neEx9rM2jCY

[IrieMoon]

08:08 AM on 09/15/2010

"We don't believe the process is contaminating the groundwater"

Well just because they don't believe it doesn't mean it's not happening.

[StephenJK]

07:09 AM on 09/17/2010

In fact, if they say they believe it ISN'T, means that it actually IS.

[trueblueredstater]

10:35 PM on 09/14/2010

Please, bear in mind that one of the fastest-growing industries in the US of A is the 'Personal Security' business (bodyguards). Also, armoring regular sedans with bulletproof glass and kevlar.

the people who are making all this money destroying the environment know what they are doing - they just don't care. But they do understand that there are those who disapprove, and they are taking all reasonable precautions.

[trueblueredstater]

10:25 PM on 09/14/2010

tragically, you simply cannot expect the oil & gas industry to behave in an environmentally sound fashion if it might have the tiniest effect on their profits.

Hello? Was anyone paying attention to the BP well mess?

[trueblueredstater]

10:21 PM on 09/14/2010

Having lived next door to a 'stripper well' (makes 5 barrels per day or less) for almost thirty years - I can tell you that the 'awl bidness' cares about one thing - and one thing only - and that is its' profits.
It doesn't matter if salt water overflow from the holding tanks kills your pasture, or that the oil kills your fruit trees - the ONLY thing they care about is money.
These mega-corporations only care about their executive salaries, bonuses, and profits.

Expecting environmentally responsible behavior from Halliburton and their ilk is like expecting good baby-sitting from a convicted child molester.

[Jonathan Robert]

09:45 PM on 09/14/2010

Whatever the cause, the fact remains that all over the world, not just here in the U.S. the drinking water is becoming more and more dangerous. It would be good to try and filter your drinking water as much as possible, but many of the contaminants slip through. You should do everything in your power to try and eat a toxin free diet. Because as this shows, even underground well sourced water is becoming dangerous.

http://green-cures.blogpsot.com

[Torak Nor]

08:27 PM on 09/14/2010

No No No No

The government elite are killing us via "Chem Trails"

This must be a hoax.

[trueblueredstater]

10:23 PM on 09/14/2010

Right - a hoax..... the film of flames being ignited out of a kitchen water faucet must be a hoax.
Well, who are you going to believe - the oil & gas business or your lying eyes?

[PotomacOracle]

07:21 PM on 09/14/2010

Foor a detailed analysis of frackin' visit www.propublica.com

[tacevad]

06:59 PM on 09/14/2010

not something T Boone ever mentioned

[Elizabeth Swigar]

06:54 PM on 09/14/2010

Wow. That really is unbelievable.

- Elizabeth Swigar