Feds back in ‘Gasland’ town to test water, air

The federal government has returned to a Pennsylvania village that became a flashpoint in the national debate over fracking to investigate ongoing complaints about the quality of the drinking water.

Government scientists are collecting water and air samples this week from about 25 homes in Dimock, a tiny crossroads about 150 miles north of Philadelphia.

“Take a skunk and every household chemical, put it in a blender, puree it for five minutes and take a whiff,” said Dimock resident Ray Kemble, 61, describing the smell of his well water. “It burns the back of your throat, makes you gag, makes you want to puke.”

He said investigators from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency, were at his house Monday to collect samples.

Fracking is a drilling method that uses huge amounts of pressurized water, sand and chemicals to extract oil and natural gas from rock formations.

Dimock was the scene of the most highly publicized case of methane contamination to emerge from the early days of Pennsylvania’s natural gas-drilling boom. State regulators blamed faulty gas wells drilled by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. for leaking combustible methane into Dimock’s groundwater.

Cabot, one of the largest natural gas producers in the state, has consistently denied responsibility, saying methane was an issue in the groundwater long before it began drilling.

“Numerous sets of data collected over the past several years in Dimock, by both EPA and DEP, have confirmed there is no threat to human health and the environment,” said company spokesman George Stark, referring to federal and state environmental agencies.