Just when you thought we’d heard the last of “Dimock” and “fracking poisons water” nonsense, the storyline as pushed by mainstream fake news has come roaring back to life–thanks to the Trump Administration. Dimock, Pennsylvania was made famous in Josh Fox’s faux documentary Gasland, which aired on HBO a bizillion times. It was Fox’s 15 minutes of fame. He lied about fracking, painting it as an evil practice that polluted water wells around Dimock. His lies were later exposed by a real documentary called FrackNation (by Phelim McAleer). Over the past 7+ years the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) as well as the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and private researchers have tested water wells around Dimock. Repeatedly. For years. The conclusion? Fracking by Cabot Oil & Gas may have (not 100% assured) caused methane to migrate into some of the wells (a charge Cabot strongly refutes). However, at no time did any of government or private agencies testing find any fracking chemicals in any of the wells. Methane migration can be mitigated. It can be fixed. You don’t die from drinking water with methane in it. Most people in Susquehanna County (where Dimock is located) drink water with methane in it every day and have been for over 200 years! Why do you think Cabot’s wells are so productive? They’re in some of the most methane-rich rock in the U.S. The wells of 14 families along the Carter Road area in Dimock have been repeatedly tested–with no fracking chemicals found. Yet the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), which is a federal public health agency part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (executive branch, which is now under Trump leadership), says they are coming to Dimock to test both water AND air at 25 homes around Dimock. The poster boy for their testing is Ray Kemble, who keeps junk cars on his property and carries a little brown jug around with him to anti-fracking rallies. Kemble has been trying to shake down Cabot for big money for years, with no success, claiming after they began drilling his water well became polluted…
