Dimock, Pennsylvania Fracking Controversy: Residents Receive Water From Activists

Environmentalists are setting their sights on a small village in northeastern Pennsylvania and the impact hydraulic fracturing has had on the town.

Dimock, Pennsylvania, close to an hour's drive north of Scranton, is home to 11 families who received daily water deliveries for nearly three years, courtesy of Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. State regulators cited Cabot for drilling natural gas wells that allowed methane to enter the local ground water, according to the Associated Press.

Yet Cabot has insisted that the town's water is safe to drink, and a judge from the state's Environmental Hearing Board allowed Cabot to stop paying for water deliveries last week.

In response to the decision, several groups have stepped forward to show support for the residents of Dimock whose water has allegedly been affected. According to the NRDC, the city of Binghamton, New York has sent a tanker of water to the village. Due to "foot dragging" by Dimock township, however, Binghamton was not able to pay for the water and costs were covered by the Sierra Club.

A second shipment of water was delivered Tuesday by individuals traveling from New York City, including actor Mark Ruffalo and filmmaker Josh Fox ("Gasland").

Activists first gathered at New York's City Hall in Manhattan to call on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to visit Dimock and reject fracking In New York state, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Tuesday's delivery included water from New York City's watershed, a source that activists say is threatened by the prospects of fracking. A meeting to decide on the future of natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin (which supplies water to New York City and Philadelphia) was recently delayed, extending the current moratorium on fracking.

The EPA recently told Dimock residents that drinking their water poses "no immediate health threat," reports The Scranton Times-Tribune.

Others aren't so convinced. The NRDC announced that it will be joining in a lawsuit on behalf of the families impacted by fracking in Dimock. Kate Sindling, a senior attorney at NRDC said in a statement:

This is about standing up to the government when it abandons its people. It's about defending the basic human right of access to clean water. These are American citizens who are so desperate for clean water that they’re pumping the water out of ponds and mixing it with bleach because they believe it's safer than what's coming out of their tap. We cannot allow this to happen here -- America is supposed to do better.

Speaking with Bloomberg's energyNOW! in November about a study of fracking contamination in Wyoming, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said, "We have absolutely no indication right now that drinking water is at risk."

She added that the EPA has "no data right now that lead us to believe, one way or the other, that there needs to be specific federal regulation of the fracking process."

Supporters of fracking have cited its ability to create jobs in economically challenged states. A new report from IHS Global Insight found that hydraulic fracturing for shale gas will "support 870,000 U.S. jobs and add $118 billion to economic growth in the next four years," reports Bloomberg Businessweek. The report also claims that the fracking industry could contribute $933 billion in taxes over the next 25 years.

Click through the slideshow below to read some of the disputed pros and cons of fracking:

Comments

[notax]

11:58 PM on 12/12/2011

Maybe Obama can kill another 870,000 jobs with an Occupy Dimock rally.

[personal beliefs]

09:21 AM on 12/08/2011

Methane is not toxic.

[hanspij]

10:24 AM on 12/09/2011

What? Are you nuts? And look at your own sighn;;Things never go according to plan, so plan accordi .
How about Fracking???

[personal beliefs]

10:57 AM on 12/09/2011

PROVE TO ME THAT METHANE IS TOXIC!!

[jvaljon1]

09:51 AM on 02/05/2012

Tell you what, I'll prove to you that methane is toxic to the human body. It'll be a test for you at the same time. 1) fill a helmet with methane--2) stick your face in it and try to breathe it in--and then 3) light a match. Oh wait I changed my mind--with you gone, in that sense, methane is NOT toxic to me. It will have removed yet another neoCON piece of ordure from my vicinity! YAY METHANE!

[hanspij]

10:27 AM on 12/09/2011

Water isnt to, but how long wil you stay alive in it?

[ErieWire]

06:17 PM on 12/07/2011

"impact hydraulic fracturing has had on the town" is misleading. Problems in Dimock caused by drilling, before any fracturing. Apples and oranges, but they're both fruit. Best for opposition to focus on 'natural gas extraction' as a whole. For more on Dimock and northern Pa. -http://www.publicherald.org/archives/14561/investigative-reports/energy-investigations/.

[bbrecht]

05:58 PM on 12/07/2011

A pro-fracking biased article -- look at how it ends. Don't worry be happy. No evidence of risks to water. No concern about the massive amounts of water used in the process of tracking.

Disappointing as usual to see the lack of real news on HuffPo's green page.

[PaulD08]

04:51 PM on 12/07/2011

people underestimate how prescious water is,, we as a society are id dominated

[TruthandHonor]

02:52 PM on 12/07/2011

The report also claims that the fracking industry could contribute $933 billion in taxes over the next 25 years. How about we forget about destroying the earth's geological structure, protect our groundwater, work harder on alternative energies, and END WAR NOW SAVING TRILLIONS!

[Amelie123]

01:46 PM on 12/07/2011

" The EPA recently told Dimock residents that drinking their water posed 'No immediate health threat.'" What the health implications are 10 or 15 years down the road, that's another question.

[personal beliefs]

09:21 AM on 12/08/2011

prove to me how methane is toxic.

[jobeeone]

12:42 PM on 12/07/2011

Pennsylvania's politicians are so bought and paid for by the these drilling companies and the residents who the drilling companies leased their land from have been enticed by money that I don't see this problem ever going away. Are they bringing jobs to PA? Sure. Are they bringing jobs to Pennsylvanians? Hell no. The jobs are going to Texans and Oklahomans who in turn are causing such raucous up in those northern counties. DUI's and Assault charges are on the rise. Just recently a bunch of guys from out of state were arrested for illegallly hunting.
Natural gas drilling has not done a dam thing for Pennsylvania besides line our corrupt politicians' pockets with money. Search and see how much money our wonderful governor got from them...The corruption in PA is astounding.

[lightningbolt]

11:13 AM on 12/07/2011

Cheney should be arrested for allowing corporations to poison us:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/how-cheneys-loophole-is-f_b_502924.html

[intolleft]

08:22 AM on 12/07/2011

“Interestin­g coincidenc­e? Perhaps:

-----Origi­nal Message---­--
From: Taylor.Tri­sh
To:
Cc: Polish.Dav­id
Sent: Fri, Dec 2, 2011 6:34 am
Subject: Follow-up status re: Nov 10, 2011 visit with Dimock PA residents

Dear Dimock Residents,

This email is a follow-up to the visits to Dimock area homes by EPA on November 10, 2011 and the subsequent review of well sampling data for wells impacted by the Cabot Oil and Gas Company drilling activities­. EPA has conducted a preliminar­y review and screening of the data provided by the Pennsylvan­ia Department of Environmen­tal Protection and residents. While we are continuing our review, to date, the data does not indicate that the well water presents an immediate health threat to users. EPA will continue to review available informatio­n related to the concerns of Dimock area residents. We are continuing to work with the Commonweal­th of Pennsylvan­ia going forward on this issue.

Please feel free to call me or David Polish, Community Involvemen­t Coordinato­r, at [phone], if you have further questions.

Sincerely,
Trish Taylor, Community Involvemen­t Coordinato­r
Hazardous Site Cleanup Division (Mailcode 3HS52)
U.S. Environmen­tal Protection Agency, Region 3
1650 Arch Street, Philadelph­ia, PA., 19103
phone: (215) 814 - 5539
fax: (215) 814 - 3015”

[dhmeiser]

01:30 PM on 12/07/2011

As a chemist I have repeatedly asked for the data and results from the EPA, but have yet to have any response.

Sorry but as a skeptic I want to see the numbers as well as the tests preformed, along with any information on the analytically methodology used for testing as well as the handling and collecting of the samples. (otherwise called the chain of custody)

Specifically since there is NO federal drinking water standard for methane and therefore there is no specific EPA analytical method to analyze for methane. Because of this there is no one specific way to determine the concentration of methane in drinking water.

Also how can the EPA say the water is safe when they do not test for all known contaminats?

[Max Shelby]

12:50 AM on 12/07/2011

Only 21 comments to this article? ANGA must be really happy that so few of us don't bother to be outraged by fracking. Especially on a left leaning site when the dems are the party of environmentalism.
Very disappointing to see so few remarks on this story.

[jobeeone]

01:27 PM on 12/07/2011

This story should get more attention. I hope the fact that the mayor of Binghamton NY and Mark Rufalo are bringing water to Dimock open eyes to how messed up things here in Pennsylvania really are.

[stevesrant]

12:23 AM on 12/07/2011

If fracking is safe for drinking water, why must it be exempt from the Clean Water Act? To my mind, this is the single biggest condemnation of the process. Explaining why the fracking process needs to be exempted from this essential law should be the first question the industry should have to answer.

[intolleft]

08:36 AM on 12/07/2011

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 contains no such exemptions to the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Superfund law, or any of a dozen other statutes. The bill does, however, contain language relating to hydraulic fracturing and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Here’s what it does:

It makes crystal clear Congress’s long-standing position that hydraulic fracturing was never intended to be regulated under SDWA, and that the process is best regulated by state experts and officials on the ground, not by EPA staff and buearacrats in Washington, D.C. This is how it is, how it was, how it’s always been. For the past 36 years.

[dhmeiser]

01:49 PM on 12/07/2011

What a load of crap, the industry has so many loopholes in regulations it it is unbelievable and it is the federal government which should be setting the baseline standard for all environmental regulations not the states. the gas doesn't follow political boundaries, it is ludicrous to think that regulations should stop a a state border.

Want to see an exemption
Here is just one.
EPA's "Exemption of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Wastes from Federal Hazardous Waste Regulations"

The exempt status of an E&P waste depends on how the material was used or generated as waste, not necessarily whether the material is hazardous or toxic. For example, some exempt E&P wastes might be harmful to human health and the environment, and many non-exempt wastes might not be as harmful. The following simple rule of thumb can be used to determine if an E&P waste is exempt or non-exempt from
RCRA Subtitle C regulations:
Has the waste come from down-hole, i.e., was it brought to the surface during oil and gas E&P operations?
Has the waste otherwise been generated by contact with the oil and gas production stream during the removal of produced water or other contaminants from the product?
If the answer to either question is yes, then the waste is likely considered exempt from RCRA Subtitle C regulations

[stevesrant]

12:40 AM on 12/08/2011

The 2005 law specifically exempts the oil and gas industries from several key requirements of the SDWA. In many experts' opinion, these exemptions were intended primarily to free the fracking process from EPA oversight. One reason It is called the "Halliburton Loophole" is because fracking was invented by Halliburton back in the forties. These were brand new policy changes, not reiterations of existing policy. If the Safe Drinking Water Act does not apply to a process that can - and has - contaminated drinking watrer, what good is it? "Left to the states"?! This is an environmental and energy policy issue, and as such is a Federal issue.

[Michelle Boice]

10:41 PM on 12/06/2011

It's hard to imagine that this is happening in our country! We send money and manpower to third world countries to teach people how to purify water, where people walk for miles and miles just to get a gallon of water to sustain life (forget bathing and cleaning, etc.) We have the DEP and the EPA and there is no help for the families in Dimock, and they are just Ground Zero for water contamination from drilling activities. Just last week, a truck driver intentionally dumped 800 gallon of this highly toxic frack waste on PA State Game Lands! He was caught & arrested; how many times is this happening that we don't know about? I am afraid our government and our people will not wake up before it is too late and more and more of our water will be contaminated. Energy independence? What do you estimate we will pay for a gallon of water? I believe the bloodiest of all wars are ahead of us, because they will be over water, clean drinking water! We cannot drink gas!

[mhh310351]

09:46 PM on 12/06/2011

If I had a choice I would chose to drink the well water of Dimock over most well water in the state of PA because it has been tested by independent labs.

My reasoning is at lease it has been regularly tested. The problem with PA well water is there are so many abandon oil and gas wells in PA.

How many - no one knows! They know there were over 180,000 (not a typo) drilled before they started to keep records of their locations!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/04/abandoned-oil-gas-wells-water_n_844662.html

So given the choice pour me a glass of Dimock well water!

[stevesrant]

12:14 AM on 12/07/2011

So-since the H2O in Pa is already hopelesslessly polluted, you'll take the most recent and least polluted, and let the industries that ruined the rest of the state's water continue with this new business as usual? Presumably so Dimock and future Dimocks can catch up to the rest of the state? Wouldn't it be nice to end the ongoing poisoning of your groundwater? It all gets passed around eventually you know...

[mhh310351]

02:21 PM on 12/07/2011

Dimock is in an area that had lots of drilling before.

The biggest problem with fracking in my opinion is it's like blaming the grandson for misdeeds committed by the grandfather!

The Duke Study alluded to that in my opinion that is why for their conclusion they recommended testing before fracking to establish a base line test, testing during fracking, and testing after fracking.

I agree.

[dhmeiser]

07:32 AM on 12/07/2011

The problem with PA is there are NO state drilling requirements for residential water wells as well as no requirements to have residential water wells tested. Local municipalities may have some but on the most part there are no regulations.

[mhh310351]

02:17 PM on 12/07/2011

my point summed up quite nicely thank you.

[mistergg69]

09:27 PM on 12/06/2011

DRILL BABY DRILL...GOP MOTTO

[Robert Brenon]

10:36 PM on 12/06/2011

Yeah, drill GOP party members on the chin!