Wyoming will conduct further investigations of drinking water quality in rural areas east of the town of Pavillion with the US Environmental Protection Agency's support, the state and EPA jointly announced on June 21.
They said Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality and Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will lead the scientific investigation and try to address concerns by evaluating the water quality of certain domestic water wells, the integrity of certain oil and gas wells, and historic pits in the Pavillion area. The state expects to conclude its inquiry and release a final report by Sept. 30.
"It is in everyone's best interest—particularly the citizens who live outside of Pavillion—that Wyoming and EPA reach an unbiased, scientifically supportable conclusion," Gov. Matt Mead (R) said. "I commend EPA and Encana for working with me to chart a positive course for this investigation."
EPA began working in 2009 with the state and the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Indian tribes to identify the source of objectionable flavors and odors which citizens living outside the town reported in their drinking water.
After five sampling phases, the federal environmental regulator documented "constituents of concern" but was not able to determine their source. Its efforts to evaluate potential migration pathways from deeper gas production zones to shallower domestic water wells in the Pavillion gas field were inconclusive.
The two Wyoming agencies will review all relevant data, including EPA's findings, and initiate an additional science-based inquiry using independent experts to assist with reviews, investigations, analyses and preparation of final reports. EPA and Encana Oil and Gas (USA) Inc., the field's operator, will have the opportunity to provide input and recommend third-party experts.
No plans for peer review
"While EPA stands behind its work and data, the agency recognizes Wyoming's commitment for further investigation and efforts to provide clean water, and does not plan to finalize or seek peer review of its draft Pavillion groundwater report released in December 2011," it said. "Nor does the agency plan to rely upon the conclusions in the draft report."
EPA is conducting a nationwide research program on possible relationships between drinking water and hydraulic fracturing which it expects to complete in late 2014. It plans to look to that program's results for its scientific conclusions and possible fracing requirements.
Oil and gas groups welcomed the announcement. Martin J. Durbin, president of America's Natural Gas Alliance, said it reaffirmed state regulators are best qualified to oversee upstream gas operations. But Erik Milito, the American Petroleum Institute's upstream and industry operations director, said EPA "should not only drop the Pavillion work from consideration, it should fully retract it."