EPA Test Results Roundup

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

March 16, 2012 | 12:27 PM

Yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency announced preliminary test results “did not show contamination high enough to pose a health threat” in 11 private water wells near Cabot Oil and Gas wells in Dimock, Susquehanna County.
The state Department of Environmental Protection says faulty drilling by Cabot led to methane migration problems in a small pocket of Dimock homes, though the company disputes the finding. The EPA became involved in the case after Cabot stopped delivering drinking water to affected homes, due to the expiration of an agreement it had reached with the DEP.
According to the AP,

The EPA said water samples from six of the 11 homes for which it received initial test results showed sodium, methane, chromium or bacteria, but at levels that did not exceed primary or secondary drinking water standards. Arsenic was found in the well water of two homes, but at levels that did not present a health hazard, regulators said.
Of the 11 homes, EPA has been delivering fresh water to three homes where it said prior test results had showed alarming levels of contamination. EPA said it will continue supplying water to the homes “while we perform additional sampling to ensure that the drinking water quality at these homes remains consistent and acceptable for use over time.”

The Times-Tribune reports the EPA will continue testing, and share more results with Dimock residents as they become available.

Here’s Cabot Oil and Gas’ statement, as reported by the Patriot-News:

“Cabot is steadfastly committed to environmental stewardship, collaboration with state regulators, and compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws. We are pleased that data released by EPA today on sampling of water in Dimock confirmed earlier findings that Dimock drinking water meets all regulatory standards.”As one of the first developers in the Marcellus shale to recognize the importance of this exceptional resource for our Nation’s future, Cabot has, and will continue, to work closely with the Dimock community ,state and local regulators on concerns in the area. We also intend to continue to work with the EPA and call on the Agency to engage in meaningful cooperation – not just at Dimock but in other noteworthy production areas in the United States.
“President Obama has called on federal agencies to work with states and to advance the development of America’s shale resources. We hope that lessons learned from EPA’s experience in Dimock will result in the Agency improving cooperation with all stake holders and to establish a firmer basis for Agency decision making in the future.”