This is Part 2 of “When things go wrong . . . “. If you
missed Part 1 click here.
Water Contamination in Pavillion, WY
This is the story of water contamination in the small town
of Pavillion, WY thought to come from hydraulic fracturing. The EPA has been
studying the area for about 3 years and released a draft of their results at
the end of 2011. The gas industry responded by questioning the results.
There are some great petroleum engineer students in our
class that did a nice summary on the events and concerns in Pavillion, WY.
Being petroleum engineer students, they understand the mechanical working of
fracking much better than I do. Check out their posts on the topic: What was going on in Pavillion, WY and More on Pavillion, WY.
I’m going to look at the controversy from a different
perspective and take a step back from the technical problems to look at the
broader issues. But first, a summary of the events:
WHAT: Possible drinking water contamination in a town that
had producing gas wells that had been hydraulically fractured. The EPA composed
a draft of their investigation that was released for public comments on
December 8, 2011.
WHERE: Pavillion, WY, a small town of less than 300 people
in the western half of Wyoming
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| The sign marking the entrance into Pavillion, WY. |
 |
| A Pavillion, WY resident standing in front of a natural gas storage tank. |
HOW: As the petroleum engineers
explain in their blog posts Pavillion, WY is a special case. The wells are very
shallow (~300m) and it is extremely uncommon to preform hydraulic fracturing
that shallow. The EPA has confirmed that open pits of flowback (fracking fluid
that comes back up out of the well) definitely contributed to shallow aquifer
contamination but the deeper contamination is much more complex and does not
have as clear of a connection to fracking. There is evidence that fracking did
play a role in the contamination that occurred at a deeper level. To read the
full EPA report go HERE.
WHY:
There have been other situations where a fault in a well (poor construction
usually) has led to contamination. The situation in Pavillion, WY was a big
deal because it occurred at a time when fracking was a hot issue. There were
many fears from the public that fracking could contaminate drinking water but
there was no proof. Pavillion, WY was the first real indication that hydraulic
fracturing had possibly caused contamination. The questioning of the results by
industry only added to the controversy around fracking.
WHO: The case of water contamination in Pavillion, WY is important
for scientists. The main lesson to learn is that the context matters. The
subject of hydraulic fracturing was already a big issue when the EPA reported
its results. Thus the results of an EPA study that might not have received any
media attention previously was in the news for weeks. The history and
background of a topic, issue, tool, whatever matter. In research, we usually
conduct a literature review to summarize previous treatment of the method or
topic. When communicating in the public sphere, scientist need to take the same
action. Scientists need to take a moment to understand what's going on from a
perspective different from their own.
What do
you think of the situation at Pavillion, WY? What do think is the main message
for scientists? For society?
Tomorrow
I'm moving away from the energy issues in America to earthquakes in Italy. Stay
tuned!
