Boom in gas drilling fuels contamination concerns in Colorado, Some scientists and citizens want firms that extract natural gas to reveal what chemicals they’re using

Boom in gas drilling fuels contamination concerns in Colorado, Some scientists and citizens want firms that extract natural gas to reveal what chemicals they’re using by Josh McDaniel, The Christian Science Monitor, February 5, 2009
“This is an answer in search of a problem,” says Doug Hock, a spokesman for EnCana, the firm that is drilling near Bracken’s land. “Chemicals in themselves do not create risk; risk is created when the proper technology and procedures are not in place. We take very stringent precautions.” Colorado fined EnCana $371,000 – the largest fine in state history for a drilling-related incident – after finding the company responsible for the 2004 gas seep in Divide Creek. But the state is allowing drilling to continue in the area…. Ben Bounds, for one, would like additional assurances about fracing’s safety. In the summer of 2007, methane seeped from his domestic well and exploded inside his pump house. The explosion lifted the pump-house roof off the frame and melted or singed everything inside. A few days later, a state inspector with a methane detector investigated the Bounds property in rural Huerfano County, at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. “When he opened the door to the garage, the detector went absolutely crazy,” says Mr. Bounds. … “Why are they allowed to keep this a secret? That’s not right,” Bounds says

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