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| Parker County homeowner Steve Lipsky demonstrated for local TV news outlet WFAA how water coming from his underground well can be ignited. (Credit: WFAA) |
Scientists say water samples from Texas man's well show identical chemical signatures from nearby gas drilling operations.
By Jon Queally
Independent scientists who have reviewed a water analysis conducted by state authorities of a Texas resident's drinking well say the chemical signatures found in the water may provide "the nation's first conclusive link" between fracking operations and aquifer contamination.
Though a state investigation—conducted by the Texas Railroad Commission in response to an official complaint filed by landowner and Parker County resident Steve Lipsky—said it found the chemical analysis of the water inconclusive, experts shown the results say the commission was simply wrong. "And not just by a little," reports local ABC-affiliate WFAA News who shared the results with several scientists, "but by a lot."
Lipsky said he has long believed that nearby hydraulic fracturing by the Range Resources company was to blame for the increasing amounts of methane and other chemicals in his drinking water. Since 2010, he says, growing amounts of methane have been seeping into the groundwater beneath his land - enough of it so that he can literally light the water coming out of his well on fire.
Range Resources says there is no connection between the methane in Lipsky's well and their drilling, but scientists shown the results from the water analysis—specifically one called an isotopic analysis—say the chemical composition shows they are an exact match to the gas being fracked at two nearby drilling sites—called Butler and the Teal—within the Barnett Shale deposit.
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