On October 10, 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a follow-up to its initial report on its Pavillion Wyoming groundwater investigation involving the first documented correlation between
groundwater contamination and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. Titled, Investigation of Ground Water Contamination near
Pavillion, Wyoming: Phase V Sampling Event Summary of Methods and Results (2012), and according to the fourteen page report, available here,
[t]he objective of the Phase V component of the Pavillion, Wyoming ground water investigation was to resample and reanalyze EPA’s two deep monitoring wells (MW01 and MW02) in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey. The EPA also collected samples from five (5) domestic water wells located adjacent to the deep monitoring wells and a municipal well. Below, this “Summary of Methods and Results” details the methods, results, and QA/QC for the Phase V investigation.
Related Links
EPA Region 8, Pavillion Phase V, EPA, http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/phase5.html (last visited Oct. 15, 2012).
EPA Region 8, Pavillion Groundwater Investigation, EPA, http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/index.html (last visited Oct. 15, 2012).
Today the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released two reports related to groundwater quality sampling near Pavillion, Wyoming titled Groundwater-quality and quality-control data for two monitoring wells near Pavillion, Wyoming, April and May 2012, USGS Data Series: 718 (2012) (report available here) and Sampling and analysis plan for the characterization of groundwater quality in two monitoring wells near Pavillion, Wyoming, USGS Open-File Report: 2012-1197 (report available here). Both reports were prepared in cooperation with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and address issues related to the first documented correlation between groundwater contamination and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.
Related Resources
Groundwater Investigation Pavillion, EPA (last visited Sept. 27, 2012).
Press Release, EPA, EPA Releases Draft Findings of Pavillion, Wyoming Ground Water Investigation for Public Comment and Independent Scientific Review (Dec. 8, 2011).
EPA, Draft Report Investigation of Groundwater Contamination Near Pavillion, Wyoming (2011).
Fractured Science – Examining EPA’s Approach to Ground Water Research: The Pavillion Analysis Before the H. Energy and Envt. Subcomm., 112th Cong. (2012).
Kirk Johnson, E.P.A. Links Tainted Water in Wyoming to Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas, NY Times (Dec. 8, 2011).
