Duke study sees link between drilling and water damage

BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS

Times-Shamrock Writer

Results of a study by scientists at Duke University showing a link between natural gas drilling and water well contamination come as no surprise to a local drilling opponent.

Dr. Thomas Jiunta, a co-founder of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, said the study proves what environmentalists have been saying all along: that there’s “definitely a chance and a likelihood” for gas to migrate along the pathways between drilling sites and drinking water sources.

“The thing that I think is important is that shows it’s a pathway,” he said. “The methane itself isn’t necessarily dangerous to drink, but it’s explosive, obviously, as it builds up.”

If methane can travel through the pathways, other chemicals, heavy metals and the water used in hydraulic fracturing could also migrate through them, Jiunta said. Pressure in the natural gas wells could increase that migration, he said.

“That just blows my mind that they’re still allowing this (gas drilling), after what we know. It’s just one thing after another,” Jiunta said.