Source : Waterworld.com

Chemicals associated with cancer, neurological problems and other health risks are being used to drill natural gas wells in Pennsylvania, but industry officials say there is no evidence that they are polluting drinking water.

The Associated Press obtained the list of chemicals used for extracting gas from the state’s Marcellus Shale. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection compiled the list, believed to be the first complete inventory of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, and plans to post it online.

Many of the more than 80 chemicals listed are found in consumer products, such as gasoline, salt, glues, paints and tobacco smoke.

States are in charge of regulating the hydraulic fracturing process, in which sand, water and chemical additives are blasted into a well to extract natural gas. Environmentalists worry that Pennsylvania is not doing enough to regulate the chemicals and ensure they do not get into drinking water, but state and industry officials say there is still no evidence of any contamination.

Among the chemicals listed is naphtahlene, a compound classified by U.S. EPA as a possible human carcinogen. Another, xylene, has been linked to central nervous system depression.

The list was compiled in recent months from information the industry is required to disclose. It follows increased speculation into natural gas drilling after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and an HBO documentary that attacked the natural gas industry (Marc Levy, AP/San Jose Mercury News, June 28). — JP