A Tainted Water Well, and Concern There May Be More

The CEO of ExxonMobil stated emphatically to Congress that there had never a documented case of groundwater contamination from natural gas fracking. Actually, it turns out that there is one such case as well as hundreds of others in which the details of the case and settlement terms have been sealed by a court. Such sealed settlements are the subject of a bill before Congress that would require judges to consider public safety and health before agreeing to seal the settlement. Such sealed cases have frustrated the EPA's efforts to research the safety of fracking, as well as many others who have sought records. If fracking is so safe, as the government and industry claims, then why is there so much secrecy. With fracking post-2002, exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act, drilling operators are not even required to tell regulators or the public what chemicals they are using in the process. Reportedly over 600 chemicals are pumped into the ground during deep shale drilling, and as you can see in the excellent documentary, Gasland, many of them migrate into water supplies along with escaped natural gas. And, by the way, natural gas fracking is not a clean alternative to oil and gas, as a Cornell study established earlier this year. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04natgas.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss