EPA Shenanigans in Weatherford, TX

This is an incredible story that MDW first linked on March 24, 2011, then again an update on April 12, 2011.

The story continues, this time in the Casper, WY, startribune.com.

Earlier links:

• March 24, 2011: story here.
• April 12, 2011: story here.

This whole story stinks, as we used to say, to "high heaven."

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At the March 24, 2011, link, this key paragraph:

During a hearing in January, David Poole, Range Resources’ general counsel, said the expert testimony would show the company’s gas wells were not responsible for the contamination of nearby water wells. The EPA did not send witnesses to testify at the January hearing.

In the latest story (the first link):

When a man in a Fort Worth suburb reported his family's drinking water had begun "bubbling" like champagne, the federal government sounded an alarm: An oil company may have tainted their wells while drilling for natural gas.

At first, the Environmental Protection Agency believed the situation was so serious that it issued a rare emergency order in late 2010 that said at least two homeowners were in immediate danger from a well saturated with flammable methane. More than a year later, the agency rescinded its mandate and refused to explain why.

Now a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with company representatives show that the EPA had scientific evidence against the driller, Range Resources, but changed course after the company threatened not to cooperate with a national study into a common form of drilling called hydraulic fracturing. Regulators set aside an analysis that concluded the drilling could have been to blame for the contamination.

Does anyone truly believe that the EPA gave up another investigation for reasons cited in this article? Really? The EPA drops a case against an independent oil and gas company simply because the country threatened to withdraw from a national study on fracking? You have got to be kidding.

This is just one of many scientific articles that explains the phenomenon. This link will take you to a "quick view," but one can download the original PDF file from there. Another article here that is easier to read.