Pavillion, Wyo., Fracking Study Unplugged with FOIA

Does the controversial oil and gas production method called "fracking" pollute drinking water? The argument has raged for years, not only over the question, but also over whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's answer to it could be trusted.

Even EPA's own scientists have disputed the agency's conclusions that fracking is mostly safe.

In 2011, EPA produced a draft report on fracking contamination at Pavillion, Wyoming, which pointed to pollution via fracking. EPA buried the report. Now one of the authors of the original draft has co-published a review of the research in the current issue of the independent journal Environmental Science & Technology. Dominic DiGiulio is now a visiting scholar at Stanford. He no longer works for EPA. The new study links fracking and polluted wells.

The interesting part is that the new study's conclusions were "based on an analysis of public records and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act," according to a Stanford release.

• "Fracking Study Finds Toxins in Wyoming Town's Groundwater and Raises Broader Concerns," InsideClimate News, March 29, 2016, by Neela Banerjee.
• "Stanford Researchers Show Fracking's Impact to Drinking Water Sources," Release of March 29, 2016, Stanford University.
• "Former EPA Lead Investigator in Pavillion Releases Study Linking Fracking to Water Contamination," Casper Star-Tribune, March 29, 2016, by Benjamin Storrow.
• "Fracking Linked to Groundwater Contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming," High Country News, March 30, 2016, by Elizabeth Shogren.