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A drilling rig and wastewater pond in Pennsylvania\u2019s Greene County. MLADEN ANTONOV\/AFP via Getty<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Inside Climate News<\/a> and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk<\/a> collaboration.<\/p>\n In the summer of 2022, John Stolz got a phone call asking for his help. This request\u2014one of many the Duquesne University professor has fielded\u2014came from the Center for Coalfield Justice, an environmental nonprofit in southwestern Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/p>\n They told him about New Freeport, a small town in Pennsylvania\u2019s Greene County that had experienced what\u2019s called a \u201cfrac-out,\u201d when drilling fluids used in the fracking process escape their intended path and end up at the surface or elsewhere underground, in this case via an abandoned gas well nearby. Residents had noticed strange odors and discoloration in their well water. Their pets were refusing to drink it. Now they wondered if it was unsafe.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stolz, who has been testing water for signs of pollution from fracking for more than 10 years, agreed to find out.<\/p>\n The testing that he and his colleagues carried out over the next two years shows that residents were\u00a0right to be concerned<\/a>. They found evidence for oil and gas contamination in a larger geographic area than was initially reported, according to a study published last month. Of the 75 samples tested, 71 percent contained methane.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe found significant contamination,\u201d Stolz said. \u201cEssentially half of the people in our study had bad water.\u201d Two of the wells registered \u201cexplosive levels of methane,\u201d he said. \u201cThe homeowners had no clue it was that bad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sarah Martik, the executive director at the Center for Coalfield Justice, said she was grateful for Stolz\u2019s work. \u201cDr. Stolz has been one of the only people in our area that we can count on to come provide free water tests,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Stolz said the more people heard about the study, the bigger it got. \u201cIt started essentially on Main Street, where that initial report came in,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I gave a couple of presentations down there with our preliminary results, and it grew, and people started calling and saying, \u2018Would you test my water?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Guy Hostutler, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Freeport Township, where New Freeport is located, said at least 22 households there rely on holding tanks called water buffaloes right now because of contamination, and others are using five-gallon jugs brought in by the Center for Coalfield Justice. Some people have installed filter systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to the pollution issues, some New Freeport residents have also recently noticed their wells are drying up.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, residents filed a\u00a0class-action lawsuit against fracking company EQT<\/a>, the owner of the well pad that is the alleged source of the frac-out. \u201cI am hopeful that this publication is going to lend a lot of credibility to that fight,\u201d Martik said. \u201cThis study is really a validation of what people already know. They have this thing that they\u2019re able to point to now and say, \u2018Hey, EQT, this did happen, and I have been impacted.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n EQT has maintained that it\u00a0bears no responsibility\u00a0<\/a>for the contamination. The company did not respond to a request for comment. When the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection tested wells in New Freeport, the agency found that the water was not safe for human consumption but did not find a link to oil and gas drilling,\u00a0according to spokesman Neil Shader<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you suspect that there\u2019s ever going to be any drilling, get your water tested,\u201d so you\u2019ll have a baseline for comparison.<\/p>\n Stolz said he thought DEP had not \u201cfully utilized the data they have\u201d to make a determination on the source of the contamination, which is complicated by the fact that an abandoned conventional gas well was involved. \u201cYou have to look at the broader picture and the timeline of events,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very clear that things changed after the frac-out.\u201d<\/p>\n DEP is now investigating more recent complaints in the area that water sources have been contaminated by oil and gas.<\/p>\n New Freeport is not the only town in Pennsylvania to find its water contaminated after oil and gas drilling took place nearby. Its story mirrors that of Dimock, a community in the northeastern part of the state that has been without clean water for more than a decade. Dimock made headlines around the world after residents were filmed setting\u00a0fire to their water<\/a>. They\u2019re still waiting for a promised\u00a0public water line<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Groundwater contamination poses particularly acute public health dangers in Pennsylvania, where more than\u00a025 percent of adults<\/a>\u00a0use private wells as their primary source for drinking water, 10 percentage points higher than the\u00a0national average<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n And the water in those private water wells\u2014serving more than 3 million people\u2014is rarely tested, according to Penn State University\u2019s\u00a0Drinking Water<\/a>\u00a0program.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re looking at community after community across the state and in the tri-state region losing their water. What we\u2019re trying to call attention to is these things happen, and somebody has to be accountable,\u201d Stolz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Daniel Bain, a co-author of the study and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said companies\u2019 denial of responsibility for contamination becomes increasingly difficult to swallow as the number of incidents rises. \u201cThey start to lose credibility. When they say there\u2019s no problem, then you\u2019re like, \u2018Well, who do I trust? Do I trust my water ever again?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Frac-outs are relatively rare, but Pennsylvania\u2019s\u00a0hundreds of thousands<\/a>\u00a0of abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells make them more probable. These wells are not easily detectable, their locations are often unknown and they\u2019re estimated to be more numerous here than in\u00a0any other state<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n DEP recorded 54 \u201ccommunication\u201d incidents, as frac-outs are called, between 2016 and 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Freeport township supervisors have one piece of advice for others who live near fracking. \u201cIf you suspect that there\u2019s ever going to be any drilling, get your water tested,\u201d said Tim Brady, the vice-chairman.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents can contact Penn State\u2019s\u00a0Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory<\/a>\u00a0to get testing for oil and gas contaminants, which costs $75.\u00a0\u201cPay the money to have the test done so you have it in hand,\u201d Brady said. \u201cIt helps not only you, but it would also help your local government. Seventy-five dollars is worth its weight in gold whenever it comes to fighting a battle like this.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n With baseline test results, investigators can more easily pinpoint the source of the contamination, allowing them to distinguish between fracking pollution and other sources, like old coal mines and abandoned oil and gas wells.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n