Muddying the Well Waters: Fracking ≠ Drilling

A recent AP article examined claims of water well contamination from nearby oil and gas drilling. The author performed a comprehensive review of drilling-related complaints requested from state agencies in four states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas. The article noted that contamination from methane, not from drilling chemicals, is commonly the source of pollution.  While many of the wells drilled in these states over the last 5 years have been wells that are ultimately used for fracking, scientists agree that the issues related to the well drilling process and improper casing of the well (regardless of how the gas or oil will be produced) cause the greatest potential for pollution, not hydraulic fracking.

While the title of the original AP article was “Oil and gas drilling pollutes well water, states confirm” other media sources used the article to report that fracking was the cause of the well pollution. For example, a number of articles based on the AP investigation began appearing shortly after with these headlines:

• “Fracking caused hundreds of complaints about contaminated water in 4 states” 
• “Report: Fracking operations are contaminating well water in 2 states” 
• “Fracking investigation finds evidence of water contamination”. 

You can read them here, here and here.

The idea that news stories can be taken out of context and sensationalized is nothing new, but in this case it does change the tone and direction of the discourse around fracking. As one commenter on the AP article astutely noted “It’s too easy to confuse people by conflating fracking with drilling.”


Submitted by Eric Chase, P.G.