Encana Responds To EPA

Canadian energy corporation Encana says “the EPA made critical mistakes and misjudgments” when it released a draft report linking water contamination in the town of Pavillion to hydraulic fracturing.

Earlier this month, the EPA released a draft report on their three year water contamination investigation… indicating that ground water in the aquifer contains compounds that are “likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing.”

In a press conference Encana’s top environmental officer David Stewart said that the results should be “reviewed by independent parties outside the EPA,” and suggested that the EPA may have been responsible for the areas contamination when it constructed its monitoring wells.

Since the release of the draft report, Governor Matt Mead has sided with Encana in calling the agency’s study “scientifically questionable,” and advocated for more testing to be done.

At the same time, Pavillion residents are hoping that a final report will help source the areas water problems, and lead to answers about health impacts that have been associated with that water.

TheEPA is not making public comment until the final report is released in late February or March of 2012.