State environmental regulators looking into a high-profile case of methane contamination in northeastern Pennsylvania have concluded that gas drilling isn’t to blame.
Anti-fracking celebrities including Yoko Ono and Susan Sarandon visited the Susquehanna County village of Franklin Forks in January as part of a tour of natural-gas drilling sites. The stars met with Matthew and Tammy Manning, who blame the high level of methane in their well water on a natural gas driller, WPX Energy.
But the state Department of Environmental Protection said Monday that its 16-month investigation shows that WPX isn’t responsible. DEP says the methane in the residents’ wells is naturally occurring shallow gas, not production gas from the Marcellus Shale formation.It is my understanding that hydrocarbons have their own "fingerprints." When the evidence gets to court, one can't make up data; the judge will ask for the equivalent of a "carfax." I doubt the judge will call either Yoko Ono or Susan Sarandon to the stand for expert testimony.
By the way, "we" have the same thing in North Dakota, naturally-occurring methane in some wells, and it occurs well outside the oil patch. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, there have been no reports of methane in any wells in western North Dakota. (And anyone who even whispers "methane in my well" will be stomped on by 354 Bakken millionaires.)
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