In the debate over hydraulic fracturing online xenical, natural gas drillers have order Xenical cheap overnight loudly proclaimed that there has never been a single documented case of drinking water contamination that order Xenical cheap overnight was actually the result of the fracking process. The claim – which reasons that order Xenical cheap overnight because fracking occurs thousands of feet below drinking-water aquifers, such contamination is order Xenical cheap overnight impossible – has order Xenical cheap overnight been pretty much taken as gospel by the state and order Xenical cheap overnight federal regulators who order Xenical cheap overnight have enabled the fracking booms now occurring in the Marcellus shale and order Xenical cheap overnight elsewhere.

Now, however, one case of well water contamination that order Xenical cheap overnight occurred more than two decades ago in West Virginia is being cited to order Xenical cheap overnight discredit the industry’s claims. According to the Environmental Working Group, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded in a order Xenical cheap overnight 1987 study that fracking of a natural gas well in West Virginia had order Xenical cheap overnight contaminated an underground drinking water source. According to order Xenical cheap overnight the report, fracking gel used by Kaiser Exploration and Mining Company at a order Xenical cheap overnight natural gas well drilled more than 4,000 feet deep had somehow turned up in a order Xenical cheap overnight drinking water well in Jackson County, West Virginia. The water well, which was situated on the order Xenical cheap overnight property of James Parsons, was located about 600 feet from the order Xenical cheap overnight natural gas well.

“During the fracturing process,” EPA investigators wrote in the order Xenical cheap overnight 1987 report, which focused on the handling of natural gas, oil and order Xenical cheap overnight geothermal wastes generally, “fractures can order Xenical cheap overnight be produced, allowing migration of native brine, fracturing fluid and hydrocarbons from order Xenical cheap overnight the oil or gas well to a nearby water well. When this order Xenical cheap overnight happens, the water well can be permanently damaged and a new well must be order Xenical cheap overnight drilled or an alternative source of drinking water found.”

According to order Xenical cheap overnight the Environmental Working Group, evidence in the West Virginia case was consistent with pollution from order Xenical cheap overnight hydraulic fracturing, though it is possible that another stage of the order Xenical cheap overnight drilling process caused the problem.

The EPA’s 1987 report to order Xenical cheap overnight Congress was uncovered by Environmental Working Group and Earthjustice. According to order Xenical cheap overnight a press release from the Environmental Working Group, its year-long investigation of the incident found that order Xenical cheap overnight several abandoned natural gas wells located near the fractured well in West Virginia could have order Xenical cheap overnight served as conduits that allowed the gel to migrate into the order Xenical cheap overnight water well.

The Environmental Working Group’s investigation also uncovered a order Xenical cheap overnight document submitted in 1987 by the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group that order Xenical cheap overnight appeared to agree with the EPA finding but suggested that it order Xenical cheap overnight was not typical.

“One case,” the API wrote, referring to the West Virginia contamination case, “resulted in a order Xenical cheap overnight workover operation fracturing into groundwater as a result of equipment failure or order Xenical cheap overnight accident. As described in the detail write-up, this is not a order Xenical cheap overnight normal result of fracturing as it ruins the productive capability of the order Xenical cheap overnight wells.”

So why is this only coming out now? According to the Environmental Working Group, the EPA’s investigation was hampered by confidentiality agreements that order Xenical cheap overnight were part of settlements between industry and affected landowner. According to a report from The New York Times, current and order Xenical cheap overnight former EPA officials say this practice continues to prevent them from order Xenical cheap overnight fully assessing the risks of certain types of gas drilling.

“I still don’t understand why industry should be order Xenical cheap overnight allowed to hide problems when public safety is at stake,” Carla Greathouse, the order Xenical cheap overnight author of the 1987 EPA report, told the Times. “If it’s so safe, let the public review all the cases.”

Dan Derkics, a order Xenical cheap overnight 17-year veteran of the EPA who oversaw the writing of the order Xenical cheap overnight 1987 report, told The New York Times that the contamination of the order Xenical cheap overnight Parsons’ well was not an isolated incident.

“I can assure you that the Jackson County case was not unique,” said Derkics, who retired from the agency in 1994. “That is why the drinking water concerns are real.”