EPA Selects Seven Fracking Case Study Sites
EPA announced today that it has selected seven case studies located in various formations at locations across the country. EPA believes these locations and case studies will provide the most useful information about the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources under a variety of circumstances. Two prospective case studies, where EPA will monitor key aspects of future hydraulic fracturing activities, are located in the Haynesville Shale - DeSoto Parish, LA, and in the Marcellus Shale - Washington County, PA.
EPA will also undertake five retrospective case studies, which will investigate reported drinking water contamination purportedly due to hydraulic fracturing operations at five existing sites. These sites are: 1) Bakken Shale—Killdeer and Dunn Counties, ND; 2) Barnett Shale—Wise and Denton Counties, TX; 3) Marcellus Shale—Bradford and Susquehanna Counties, PA; 4) Marcellus Shale—Washington County, PA; and 5) Raton Basin—Los Animas County, CO.
EPA provides more information about these locations and the case studies, including key issues to be investigated and potential outcomes, on its hydraulic fracturing case studies website. The Agency plans on using the information obtained from these case studies in its hydraulic fracturing study, which EPA is undertaking pursuant to its hydraulic fracturing study plan.
