Anti-Drillers Pressure PA Gov on Water Testing “Controversy”
The ever-shrill anti-fracking machine believes they have a winner of an issue in the recent “discovery” that (gasp) the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection does not, in every instance of well water testing, conduct useless and expensive testing for every chemical known to mankind (see this MDN story). For the anti-drilling lobby, the DEP’s lack of extreme testing equals “cover-up.” And so they grind out press release after press release, letter after letter. (Crank up the Peter, Paul & Mary music, there’s more letters to write!)
Yesterday, 25 groups (listed at the bottom so you know whom not to support) sent one such letter to Gov. Tom Corbett requesting he order the DEP and Sec. Michael Krancer to start conducting those extreme tests post haste (a copy of the letter is embedded below). Here’s how the latest faux controversy is being reported:
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This is an astonishing turnaround. Denise Dennis, a very vocal critic of gas drilling and someone who caught national attention two years ago by denouncing natural gas drilling and comparing it to the tobacco industry at a Philadelphia City Council meeting, has just signed a lease with Cabot Oil & Gas to allow drilling under her historic property in Susquehanna County, PA.
WPX Energy, a company formed in January 2011 by Williams (created by spinning off the Williams exploration and production division) released their third quarter financial and operational update last week. The report losing $64 million in 3Q12. Most of WPX’s operations and focus has been in plays other than the Marcellus, including a big focus on the Bakken Shale, where they drill for oil, and the Piceance Basin in northwestern Colorado where they drill for wet natural gas.