Tests by the Environmental Protection Agency of water in Dimock, Pennsylvania, found elevated levels of methane consistent with leakage from gas drilling nearby, according to scientists who reviewed the data.
Results from the first 11 wells tested by the EPA found one with a methane level of 52 parts per million, which could be explosive, and a total of six with more than the 7 milligrams per liter at which drillers are required to notify the state. The findings raise questions about the EPA’s March 15 statement to Dimock residents that their water didn’t pose a health risk, said Ronald Bishop, a chemist at the State University of New York’s College at Oneonta.
“They sprang too early with these results, and in telling people their water is safe,” Bishop, a critic of gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing, said in an interview. “I’m used to seeing better from them.”
