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    USA Today: Study - Deep brine linked to groundwater

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Summary

Terry Engelder of Penn State questions the PNAS study's suggestion of possible fracking activity contaminating deep brine layers seeps that ascend upward into the groundwater. "Drilling creates a movement of fluid toward the well, not away from it, which argues against that sort of release upward," Engelder suggests.

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USA Today: Study - Deep brine linked to groundwater

Deep rock layers plumbed by natural gas wells are naturally connected to shallower groundwater layers in northeastern Pennsylvania, a study suggests, raising concerns that deep drilling in such regions could someday lead to drinking water contamination.

"The debate surrounding the safety of shale gas development in the Appalachian Basin has generated increased awareness of drinking water quality in rural communities," begins the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science study headed by Duke University's Avner Vengosh. Although a lot of environmental concern regarding shale gas wells centers on spills and wellhead leaks, the study notes another worry is connections, "between the shale gas formations and the overlying shallow drinking water aquifers."

Shale gas layers can be deep as 7,000 feet down, or deeper, far from the shallow groundwater used in wells.   MORE

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