Wyoming is analyzing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) findings of high levels of benzene and other chemicals, including petroleum-related compounds, at two monitoring test wells installed near natural gas drilling locations around Pavillion, WY.

The findings released earlier this month are part of testing that has been ongoing since 2009, state officials told NGI (see Daily GPI, Nov. 14).

EPA held a public meeting in Pavillion (pop. 126) that drew half of its residents to release the latest test well data in a community that is already jittery about its water supplies and the recent announcement that the U.S. arm of Calgary-based Encana Corp. had sold its properties in the area to Midland, TX-based Legacy Reserves, prompting residents to allege that the Canadian producer was walking away from its clean-up responsibilities.

Encana said it intends to follow through on its commitment to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to clean up three drilling waste pits that it contends predated its business in the Pavillion area.

“Encana has apparently been given the same data [from EPA as the state], and is apparently reviewing it, too, as we are,” said a spokesperson for Gov. Matt Mead. “Wyoming is still in the process of reviewing the data and has not reached any conclusions yet.”

EPA has said it sampled water at 42 private drinking water and four stock wells, and the carcinogen benzene measured up to 50 times the EPA limit in the testing, along with elevated levels of diesel- and gasoline-grade organic compounds. High levels of methane also were found in 10 of the sampled wells and elevated levels of 2-butoxyethanol phosphate were measured in nine wells.

“Test wells were drilled in 2010, and the EPA retested the drinking wells, which were first sampled in 2009,” said the governor’s spokesperson. “Last week was the first time Wyoming saw any data from the test wells. The EPA said there were no changes in the results from the drinking water wells.”

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