[Lamplighter]

And the damages to water resources continues,
but now EPA had joined the friggin fracking fracus.

LA Times
Neela Banerjee, Washington Bureau
December 8, 2011

EPA says 'fracking' probably contaminated well water in Wyoming

The Environmental Protection Agency said that hydraulic fracturing,
a controversial natural gas drilling process, probably contaminated well water in Wyoming,
a finding sure to roil the debate about expanding natural gas drilling around the country.

The EPA's new draft report found dangerous amounts of benzene in a monitoring well
near the town of Pavillion, in central Wyoming.

The EPA is conducting a comprehensive study about the possible effect
of "fracking" on water resources, but initial results are not expected until late 2012.
As a result, the Pavillion report may not give either side in the fracking debate
the conclusive answers they seek.

But the EPA report is the first that uses multiple, on-the-ground samples
to determine the effect of fracking on underground water sources in areas of oil and gas development.

"Alternative explanations were carefully considered to explain individual sets of data,"
the EPA report said of the presence of synthetic chemicals found in the Wyoming water.
"However, when considered together with other lines of evidence, the data indicate
likely impact to groundwater that can be explained by hydraulic fracturing."