Duke Study Prompts Confusing Headlines
If you are like me and start your morning work routine by scrolling through the daily Marcellus Shale news with a good cup of coffee, then you are probably just as confused as the rest of us about the recent Duke University study results regarding shale gas drilling. Just take a look at the list below and try to interpret strictly from the news headlines what it is Nathaniel Warner, Dr. Robert Jackson, and colleagues actually found:
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No wonder this entire issue is so contentious. Not only is the science still evolving, but then you have to waft through the countless takes on what the research means. Perhaps we should take a cue from our childhood years and get the story “straight from the horse’s mouth.” E.g. try reading the official results (PDF) published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Even the abstract below will tell you a lot more about the implications of the results than any truncated news headline could:
The debate surrounding the safety of shale gas development in the Appalachian Basin has generated increased awareness of drinking water quality in rural communities. Concerns include the potential for migration of stray gas, metal-rich formation brines, and hydraulic fracturing and/or flowback fluids to drinking water aquifers. A critical question common to these environmental risks is the hydraulic connectivity between the shale gas formations and the overlying shallow drinking water aquifers. We present geochemical evidence from northeastern Pennsylvania showing that pathways, unrelated to recent drilling activities, exist in some locations between deep underlying formations and shallow drinking water aquifers. Integration of chemical data (Br, Cl, Na, Ba, Sr, and Li) and isotopic ratios (87Sr∕86Sr, 2H∕H, 18O∕16O, and 228Ra∕226Ra) from this and previous studies in 426 shallow groundwater samples and 83 northern Appalachian brine samples suggest that mixing relationships between shallow ground water and a deep formation brine causes groundwater salinization in some locations. The strong geochemical fingerprint in the salinized (Cl > 20 mg∕L) groundwater sampled from the Alluvium, Catskill, and Lock Haven aquifers suggests possible migration of Marcellus brine through naturally occurring pathways. The occurrences of saline water do not correlate with the location of shale-gas wells and are consistent with reported data before rapid shale-gas development in the region; however, the presence of these fluids suggests conductive pathways and specific geostructural and/or hydrodynamic regimes in northeastern Pennsylvania that are at increased risk for contamination of shallow drinking water resources, particularly by fugitive gases, because of natural hydraulic connections to deeper formations.
In all fairness, this study is very technical, so writing a catching but accurate news headline is extremely difficult. It is important to keep in mind, however, that summaries written for the lay public will often contain a piece of the translator’s perspective – like snippets of foreign code embedded in the story.
By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – Communications Specialist, FracTracker; DrPH Student, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health department
Mr. Malone, You give us a listing of Media Crap. Sad you have not done your research, True research. I would have like to have read that you watch the documentary on Fracknation or even touched based with reading information on it. I advise all of you to get and watch the documentary that gives you actual facts from professionals of all sides to the fracking procedure and regulations that do happen. Please Please do your research before listening to the Media. God Bless us all and remember the truth always comes out.
Why does it have to take a disaster before people listen. Why is the Pa governor Corbot, siding with the out of state Gas companies instead of his constitituates the people of Pa. We want our clean land and water, not money. Jobs can be created with solar and wind projects instead. He is out for the same thing they are. Money and Power and does not care about the people or the land. It will be too late soon, if not already. You cannot undo the damage once it is done. Money in their pockets is all they care about. What are people like us in Pa to do. Can’t even move to another state because they are spreading like fleas on a dog. They have already destroyed land and property and people don’t care because it hasn’t affected them yet, you will see it will affect them within the next 10 years and then it will be too later. I am old and won’t see it but I am ashamed that we as a people are doing this to our grandchilden. Leaving them with this life of pollution and misery. So ashamed of our Governor for letting this happen. Corbert what are you doing to your family? Have you no shame. I remember the commercial of the Native American Indian crying over people throwing garbage from their cars. Now look what People are doing. Shame Shame Shame on all of you Power hungry Polititians and Money grubbing corporate Leeches. Shame on all of you.