According PA DEP’s own documents there have been at least 161 cases of groundwater contamination caused by oil and gas development between 2008 and the fall of 2012.

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   This information became public through a Right-to-know Request filed by the Scranton Sunday Times. Why was this information withheld from the public and why did the DEP fight the request in court?

   
   

   http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/sunday-times-review-of-dep-drilling-records-reveals-water-damage-murky-testing-methods-1.1491547
   
   
   

   Clearly, public agencies are hiding the dangers from the people of PA. The DEP has publicly denied any cases of groundwater contamination caused by oil and gas drilling in PA. Former secretary, Michael Krancer told the Federal Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment “the myth that terrible chemicals are getting into the groundwater is completely myth. It is bogus.” 

   
   

   http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2011/11/17/krancer-idea-fracking-polluting-groundwater-is-bogus/
   
   Well casings fail at alarming rates over time. Publicly, the industry “ensures safety” through newer and better well casings. However, their in-house documents recognize an engineering problem that they have been unable to fix. Simply put by Archer, an industry leader in well services, “wells fail.” In a presentation titled “Better Well Integrity,” they state that integrity issues affect 35% of wells on the planet and include diagrams of leak flow (leaking horizontally from the interior of the casing to the exterior) and annular flow (vertical migration up and down the cement annuals of the casing). These, according the presentation, are the two main types of well integrity issues. 

   
   

   http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/well_integrity_failure_presentation.pdf
   
   
   

   Southwestern Energy also acknowledges the problem. They refer to them as “leak through casing” and “cement channeling.” 

   http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/assessmentmethodsforwellintegrityduringthehfcycle.pdf
   
   
   

   In an article published in Oilfield Review, a graph analyzes the number of wells with sustained casing pressure (an indication of casing failure) by age. Five percent of the wells fail immediately. When you reach the 15-year mark, almost 50% are failing. At 27 years the rate is 60%. 

   
   

   http://www.slb.com/~/media/Files/resources/oilfield_review/ors03/aut03/p62_76.ashx
   
   Well casing failure rates are not improving. During our conversation, you suggested that groundwater contamination has become a thing of the past because the industry is improving its casing. I strongly challenge this assumption. The rate of casing failure has remained steady over the past 3 years in PA. According to DEP data, 6.2 percent of new gas wells were leaking in 2010, 6.2 percent in 2011 and 7.2 percent in 2012. A quick search of DEP records shows 26 mentions of casing violations so far in 2013 alone.