Fracking EPA censorship: 3 times is a tradition
When thousands of us supported Gina McCarthy to head the EPA, it was because she was a proven and tough advocate for the planet. When confronted with members of Congress who denied global warming is real, or industry tycoons who claim they couldn't afford to protect the planet and make a profit, we've always been able to count on McCarthy to stand up for science and the facts and demand action to protect the planet
But shocking new reports indicate that despite the word Protect being their middle name, the EPA has in fact been covering up it's own research that proves fracking contaminates groundwater. Thanks to courageous whistle blowers at EPA, we now know that when the Agency was presented with it's own research on fracking that showed dangerous levels of pollution and methane in the drinking water of several wells near a fracking site, they didn't pull the plug on fracking. Worse, they pulled the plug on the research.
And this didn't happen one time, an oversight or omission by one lowly official. The LA Times reports that this cover up has spanned 3 states and multiple occasions — that we now know about.
Now, Gina McCarthy was not have been the head of the EPA when this happened. She was still tangled up in a Senate confirmation fight that bordered on the ridiculous. And her previous post was as head of the Air and Radiation division, with no oversight over water quality reports and management.
But McCarthy is head of the EPA now, and she had better be saddling up a thorough internal investigation into why EPA covered up it's own research and put the health of families and our planet at risk. And she had better start by re-opening the investigations into contaminated drinking water RIGHT NOW.
Part of what made this research come to life is that one place EPA swept research under the rug was in Dimock, Penn., the home of Gasland 1 & 2 creator Josh Fox. When their own research showed that Dimock wells were contaminated, the EPA didn't demand more answers or shut down the local fracking operation. Instead they told resident's the water was safe to drink (it wasn't) and that we should wait for an EPA case study in 2016 that will include locations in Pennsylvania but NOT Dimock. They said the same to residents in Pavilion, Wyo., and Parker County, Texas, where the EPA also failed to complete its own report.
It seems like we need to remind the EPA that the "Protection" in their name is not for polluters. It's for our planet.