Last Modified: Friday, June 22, 2012 7:55 PM I’ve heard of
concerns that fracking — a process that’s used for drilling for
oil and gas — may be associated with causing earthquakes. Has
the Environmental Protection Agency issued any warnings about
its safety and the environment? The EPA has issued no official
warning about fracking and earthquakes. But it did mount an
extensive investigation of allegations that the practice —
formally called hydraulic fracturing — has contaminated
groundwater around Pavillion, Wyo. The town, with a population
of 231, sits just west of the Pavillion Gas Field, site of 169
production wells and 33 surface pits used for drilling-fluid
disposal and storage, according to a draft report on the EPA’s
investigation. The draft, released in December, says the agency,
at the behest of residents, tested water from shallow wells and
later drilled two monitoring wells to collect deep-groundwater
samples for analysis. The report says testing detected multiple
synthetic chemicals related to hy