Flaming faucets: Woman’s tap water is flammable as she blames nearby fracking

Flaming faucets: Woman’s tap water is flammable as she blames nearby fracking by James Nye, August 1, 2012, Daily Mail UK
In a video produced to highlight the unknown long-term consequences of fracking, Sherry Vargson lights a match and sets fire to water as it comes out of the faucet. The water has become flammable because of increased methane levels in the surrounding rock in Granville Township, Pennsylvania, which Vargson and the ‘Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition’ claims is because of the controversial mining process. … While Pennsylvania regulators did fine the Chesapeake energy Corp $900,000 for contaminating the water supplies of 16 homes in Bradford County with methane, there has been no conclusive evidence that fracking was to blame. … Methane concentrations were detected in 51 of 60 drinking water wells across the region, regardless of gas industry operations, but concentrations were much higher closer to natural-gas wells, the report said. Levels were 17 times higher on average in shallow wells from active drilling areas than in wells from non-active areas, the report said. … A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May last year did find a link between fracking and methane contamination of the drinking water supply. … Vargson claims that before the fracking began the methane in the water tested a 0.01 milligrams per litre and now the water tests as high as 64 milligrams per litre.

This entry was posted in Global Frac News. Bookmark the permalink.