Scientists Close to Testing Tracers for Drilling Fluid

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3. Here is some more information

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2013/01/22/scientists-close-to-testing-tracers-for-drilling-fluid/

Potential Evidence in Pollution Cases

There have been dozens of lawsuits filed nationwide alleging that the drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has harmed the environment. But many have been tossed out of court.

Proving a definitive link between groundwater contamination and fracking — which injects millions of gallons of a solution of water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground — has been elusive in Texas. Just last week, a controversy heated up again over natural gas found in well water in North Texas. Some residents in Parker County had contended it was caused by drilling operations nearby.

At first, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed. But state drilling regulators at the Texas Railroad Commission disagreed, saying that data indicated the natural gas was not from deeply drilled wells but from shallow deposits of gas that had supposedly been seeping into local well water for years.