A new study questions the findings of a government draft report that tied hydraulic fracturing to contaminated water supplies in one Wyoming community.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft study report in December that concluded hydraulic fracturing had tainted the water supply in Pavillion. The EPA's report also stated that the findings did not necessarily suggest that hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, would impose the same consequences on underground water supplies elsewhere in the U.S.

Moreover, the EPA noted that Pavillion's case presented a number of unique characteristics that could have influenced the results. Fracking wells have long been a staple in Pavillion, researchers asserted, unlike in other states where the natural gas extraction technique has only recently become popular.

Still, a report released by S.S. Papadopulos & Associates this week found that the EPA did not sufficient evidence to connect fracking to the tainted water supply in Pavillion. The International Business Times reports that although the EPA is still reviewing its draft report as it works to craft a final version of the controversial study, fracking proponents have already seized upon the conflicting research as a means of questioning whether the EPA is capable of effectively regulating the industry.

The new report's findings state that the government study did not "adequately distinguish between potential natural impacts and those from gas drilling activities." The EPA has been criticized by environmental advocates for what they contend is the organization's failure to properly protect public health initiatives as fracking expands in states across the U.S.

The federal government has thus far allowed states to regulate fracking, but such a policy has created conflicting sets of rules in different parts of the nation. In New York, the state's environmental protection officials are currently mulling whether to resume granting fracking permits, but opponents have rallied lawmakers to prohibit the practice.

One of the most contentious issues in the New York debate is whether fracking wastewater could potentially taint the state's water supplies. Some have called for further restrictions on drilling, while others have simply advocated for treatments that would remove drilling mud additives and other chemicals from fracking effluent.

Posted on May 16th, 2012 under Agricultural Runoff, Construction and Oilfields, Wastewater News, Water Regulations