Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) informed locals that testing revealed the presence of benzene, lead, phthalate, nitrate, 2-butoxyethanol phosphate, petroleum hydrocarbons, methane and high levels of sodium in wells and in groundwater.

 

The EPA stopped short of blaming EnCana, the Canadian oil and gas company that owns most of the wells near Pavillion, for the contamination, saying it needed to conduct more testing. Although it has not accepted responsibility for the problem, EnCana, which bills itself as a leader in “unconventional natural gas production,” has promised to pay for water deliveries or filtration for homes, but has yet to work out the details.

 

EnCana has been using a controversial extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”), which involves injecting fluids and sand into rock formations to reach deep reserves of natural gas and oil.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Feds Warn Residents Near Wyoming Gas Drilling Sites Not To Drink Their Water (by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica)

Pavillion, Wyoming-Area Residents Told Not To Drink Water (by Dustin Bleizeffer, Casper Star-Tribune)

Drinking Water and Retirement Dreams Destroyed By Gas Drilling (by Louis Meeks, No Dirty Energy)

EPA Results Show Contaminated Water in Wyoming Fracking Zone (by Stacy Feldman, Solve Climate)

Community Health Survey Results Pavillion, Wyoming Residents (by Wilma Subra, Subra Company for Earthworks) (pdf)