PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER:  A preliminary study by Academy of Natural Sciences researchers suggests that even without spills or other accidents, drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania’s rich Marcellus Shale formation could degrade nearby streams.

The researchers compared watersheds where there was no or little drilling to watersheds where there was a high density of drilling, and found significant changes.

Water conductivity, an indicator of contamination by salts that are a component of drilling wastewater, was almost twice as high in streams with high-density drilling. ..  (more)