Study: Methane in Colorado water isn't always from oil wells
http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2016/07/study-methane-in-colorado-water-isn-t-always-from-oil-wells.html?eid=290980193&bid=1460733 July 12, 2016
Dan Elliott, Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — The oil and gas industry may not be to blame if northeastern Colorado tap water is so full of methane it can be set on fire, researchers say.
Fewer than 5 percent of the region's water wells that were checked for methane pollution had been tainted by oil and gas leaks, according to a study released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
About 18 percent had methane that came from coal seams that underlie the area, the researchers said.
The other wells either had methane that couldn't be definitively traced or had no detectable methane at all.
Dramatic videos of residents igniting water running from a faucet occasionally surface in communities near oil and gas wells, including in Colorado, and the images are sometimes cited as evidence of the danger posed by energy development, including fracking.
"I think it's important for people to realize that being able to light your tap water on fire in many cases is a natural occurrence," said Owen Sherwood, lead author of the study and a research associate at the University of Colorado.
"However, accidents do happen, leaks do happen,...
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