Damning Evidence of Groundwater Contamination

Damning Evidence of Groundwater Contamination Media Alert May 1, 2007, Alberta Legislature Media Room, Edmonton
Four landowners from central Alberta will provide damning evidence of industrial contamination of groundwater in communities experiencing rapid coal-bed methane development and associated fracing. … Nearly a dozen reluctant investigations by Alberta Environment (one landowner had to use freedom of information to get her water data) have now found petroleum contaminants in drinking water. The poisons or toxins include benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, butane and pentane. … The landowners will question the scale and pace of conventional and coal bed methane gas drilling in Alberta as well as the government’s commitment to protect groundwater. The Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, a respected group of water experts, has declared Alberta’s groundwater policies inadequate and concluded that “there is little information on the quantity of groundwater extracted and virtually no information on groundwater quality.”