Duke Researchers Push Back on DEP's Critique

• Susan Phillips
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  Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

Authors of a controversial study on the impacts of gas drilling in Pennsylvania have called Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer to the mat on questions of bias. In an op-ed in Friday’s Inquirer, Robert Jackson and Avner Vengosh, defend their research against Krancer’s accusations of “suspect science.” They also challenged Krancer to share data.
Krancer recently testified in Congress about gas drilling, defending the state’s abilities to regulate the practice against unnecessary interference from federal regulators. Krancer also told Congress that the conclusion that fracking causes groundwater pollution is “bogus.” He brought up the Duke study, calling it “statistically and technically biased.” The Secretary points to a recent study by Penn State researchers, and funded by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, whose findings appear to contradict the Duke study.
In fact, the Duke study did not find evidence that fracking itself causes water contamination.  But it did find levels of methane were 17 times higher in drinking water wells near gas drilling sites. The study also found elevated levels of ethane and propane.
The Penn State study also found no evidence that fracking polluted water supplies. But unlike the Duke study, it did not find statistically significant levels of methane in water wells near natural gas well pads. Both studies acknowledged a small data set, and the need for more research.
In Friday’s op-ed the Duke researchers said Krancer’s accusations of bias surprised them.

“The Department of Environmental Protection’s stated mission is “to protect Pennsylvania’s air, land, and water from pollution and to provide for the health and safety of its citizens through a cleaner environment.” Wouldn’t that include taking the time to understand what scientific results like ours mean, where they might apply, and what should be done in response? Instead, Krancer quickly set out to, as he put it, “refute” our study and others.”

Duke researchers Vengosh and Jackson offered to exchange data with the DEP. Along with questions over funding and bias, scientists studying Marcellus Shale drilling say there’s also a lack of good data. We’ve contacted DEP to find out Krancer’s response to the Duke researchers’ request, and we’ll let you know his take on this, when we do.

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