Pennsylvania Court: No Evidence Fracking Caused Water Pollution

A laboratory did not engage in “fraud in conspiracy” when it reported Pennsylvania fracking operations did not cause any water pollution, a Pennsylvania court has ruled. The decision, summarized in yesterday’s Daily Caller, adds to the mountains of evidence that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations pose no or very little pollution risk to groundwater.

A Pennsylvania family and environmental activist groups alleged nearby fracking operations polluted the family’s water well. An environmental testing laboratory called TestAmerica sampled groundwater and found no evidence of fracking contamination. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection confirmed there was no evidence that fracking caused any water pollution. The family and the environmental activist groups then alleged TestAmerica must have conspired with energy producers to report false results. The court found no evidence TestAmerica lied or altered results.

Lake in PA pixabay 1“The anti-fracking movement has focused almost all its attention on four alleged instances of groundwater contamination – Dimock, Pa.; Pavillion, Wyo.; Parker County, Texas and Washington Co., Pa. – and each claim has been debunked repeatedly by independent parties,” Seth Whitehead, a researcher for the pro-energy group Energy in Depth, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The EPA’s landmark groundwater study and dozens of peer-reviewed studies have also confirmed the fracking process has not contaminated groundwater,” Whitehead observed.

Environmental activists who oppose fracking do so primarily on assertions that fracking pollutes or is likely to pollute groundwater. Lisa Jackson, who headed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during President Obama’s first term, has testified to Congress that EPA has not documented any instances of the fracking process causing water pollution. Jackson’s testimony is bolstered by federal, state, and local tests at literally thousands of water locations near fracking sites showing no fracking-related water pollution.

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