PA DEP Screws Up Water Test at Ten Mile Creek – Egg on Face
Pennsylvania anti-drillers from a local chapter of the Izaak Walton League, a so-called conservation organization, attempted a smear job on the Marcellus Shale industry--and it's come back to bite them. The Izaak Walton gang has been testing water from Ten Mile Creek that runs through Washington and Greene counties in western PA for the past four years. Last year the League raised an alarm that there are high levels of radiation and other nasty things in the creek. The League immediately started pointing a finger at the Marcellus industry, accusing drillers of illegally dumping untreated wastewater in the creek (see Is Shale Wastewater Causing Radiation Spike in Ten Mile Creek?). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) ran a test of the water in April 2014 and found from its own testing high levels of radioactivity. The problem is, the DEP ran the WRONG test, and therefore got erroneous results. A team of scientists from West Virginia University tested in the same location--six times--during July and August. They used the right test--and guess what? There are no elevated levels of radioactivity in Ten Mile Creek. Sounds to us like the Izaak Walton gang was telling a Ten Mile High story. The DEP has considerable egg on its face for screwing up the original test and scaring everyone for the past year. The DEP says they will retest for themselves, this time using a more accurate test...
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