Duke U. Researchers Release New Study on Fracking, Methane and Well Water

[JPZenger]

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/study-finds-more-gas-in-water-near-marcellus-shale-wells-1.1510483

Excerpts;

"Natural gas has likely seeped into Northeast Pennsylvania water supplies from both deep gas drilling and natural processes, researchers at Duke University reported in a paper released Monday. The article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that methane, ethane and propane concentrations were higher in drinking water wells located within a kilometer of a gas well than in more distant water supplies.

The researchers detected methane in 82 percent of 141 water wells and ethane in 30 percent of 133 sampled wells, but methane levels were six times higher and ethane levels were 23 times higher on average in the water supplies close to gas wells.

This time the scientists used multiple tools, including studying carbon, hydrogen and helium isotopes, propane and ethane concentrations and the ratios of gases, to help distinguish the source of gas in water wells in Bradford, Lackawanna, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties. They found evidence that some water wells may have been contaminated by gas from the Marcellus Shale while others showed signs of gas from shallower rock layers or a mixture of gas types that might come from either gas drilling or natural pathways."
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The conventional wisdom is that improper casings of fracking gas wells allows naturally occurring methane to be released into groundwater supplies.