In the middle of an investigation into water contamination caused by natural gas drilling, with only partial results from less than 20 percent of households being investigated, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 3 office issued a press release on March 15 implying that Dimock, Pa.’s water has been given a clean bill of health. In the same statement to the press, EPA admitted that several families still have arsenic and methane in their water, but the news headlines are already proclaiming that the water in Dimock is safe.
Independent testing has found that 11 Dimock families’ water is contaminated with explosive levels of methane, as well as heavy metals, radioactive material and fracking chemicals like ethylene glycol—commonly known as antifreeze. Would partial, preliminary test results convince you that Dimock’s water was safe for your children to drink?
This mismanagement of the crisis in Dimock is just one of a long list of failures to protect citizens from the hazards of gas drilling. And the circumstances of Region 3’s press release raise more questions than answers:
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