Louis Meeks, a farmer near Pavillion, Wyoming, fills a trough with contaminated
water from his well on September 17, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Jon Hurdle
Reuters) - Before the energy companies came to town, talk at Pavillion's sole
watering hole centered on the introduction of $3 Guinness beer on
tap.
But when a U.S. natural gas boom hit this village of 150 people, the focus of
discussion at Possum Pete's bar and across the once tight-knit community
shifted.
As the gas well count swells to outnumber the residents, Pavillion, in
west-central Wyoming, has found itself at the epicenter of a national debate
over the potential threat that drilling fluids pose to drinking water.
The Environmental Protection Agency on December 8 offered evidence that
chemicals applied in the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, process that has led
to a record surge in U.S. gas production this year, have likely tainted
Pavillion's aquifer.
Reuters
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