Rural Community Assistance Partnership

Practical solutions for improving rural communities
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hydraulic fracturing

ProPublica: Years after evidence of fracking contamination, EPA to supply drinking water to homes in Pa. town

Posted Wed, 2012/01/25 - 12:45pm by RCAP

by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, Jan. 20, 2012, 2:58 p.m.

First, the earth around the rural town of Dimock, Pa., was cracked open as gas drillers used fracking to tap the vast energy supplies of the Marcellus Shale.

Then, in April 2009, residents there lost their access to fresh drinking water. Wells turned fetid. Some blew up. Tap water caught fire.

New York Times: As gas drilling spreads, towns stand ground over control

Posted Fri, 2011/12/16 - 4:06pm by RCAP

A Dec. 14 article in the New York Times begins:

SOUTH FAYETTE, Pa. — As energy companies move to drill in densely populated areas from Pennsylvania to Texas, battles are breaking out over who will have the final say in managing the shale gas boom.

The fight, which pits towns and cities against energy companies and states eager for growth, has raised a fundamental question about the role of local government: How much authority should communities have over the use of their land?

Environmental Working Group: Gas-drilling doublespeak

Posted Wed, 2011/12/14 - 5:23pm by RCAP

Landowners say companies kept them in the dark on risks

Washington D.C. (EWG) – Gas drilling companies routinely warn their investors of a litany of possible disasters – such as leaks, spills, explosions, bodily injury and even death – but regularly fail to mention these risks when persuading landowners to sign leases for drilling rights, an Environmental Working Group investigation found.