From Texas to Wyoming.. from Colorado to Pennsylvania.. and now here in West Virginia, hundreds of wells and aquifers have been contaminated nationwide by vertical/horizontal gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The drilling utilizes over three hundred toxic chemicals to fracture the earth one mile in several directions from the vertical drill-bore. Our state forests, where generations of West Virginians have hunted, fished, and hiked, are being defaced by a growing network of well pads. But even more disturbing are the effects that we can't see. Unknown chemicals are being pumped thousands of feet underground. The extreme pressures involved in the hydro-fracturing process are forcing methane gas into people's homes and into their water supplies. Thousands of gallons of chemicals have been spilled in our forests and streams. It's clear to me that hydro-fracturing is the single biggest environmental threat to West Virginia that this generation faces, and it has hardly started...

Above: Fracking trucks at a well site

The State Journal, April 2nd 2012

Two Marshall County residents claiming Marcellus shale drilling adjacent to their property rendered their water supply unusable are taking their fight to federal court.

Jeremiah Magers and Andrea Magers originally filed the suit Feb. 24 in Marshall County Circuit Court against Chesapeake Appalachia. The suit was removed to federal court March 30.

According to their suit, the Magers say they used a water well near their home because public water is not available.

The Magers claimed as soon as Chesapeake started drilling gas wells, they started to notice methane gas from their well and a nearby stream.

"Sufficient gas was present that the plaintiffs could ignite both the water and Fish Creek," the suit stated.
Now, the Magers claim they must purchase and haul water to their house.

"The defendant has failed to provide the plaintiffs an alternate water supply or compensate them for the contamination of their water well and their costs in purchasing water," the suit stated.

Chesapeake Appalachia has not yet filed a response. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr.

Here is an eye-opening article from Cleantechnica which explores the problem further:

Report Shows Natural Gas Fracking Creates More Methane in Underground Water

The complete PNAS report directly cites hydraulic fracturing as a contributor: “the process of hydraulic fracturing generates new fractures or enlarges existing ones above the target shale formation, increasing the connectivity of the fracture system. The reduced pressure following the fracturing activities could release methane in solution, leading to methane exsolving rapidly from solution, allowing methane gas to potentially migrate upward through the fracture system.”

Of course, vested interests will continue to "lie and deny"...

Research scientists writing for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) report that while directional drilling and hydraulic-fracturing technologies are dramatically increasing natural-gas extraction, the aquifers overlying the Marcellus and Utica shale formations of northeastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York show systematic evidence of methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale-gas extraction.
The complete PNAS report directly cites hydraulic fracturing as a contributor: “the process of hydraulic fracturing generates new fractures or enlarges existing ones above the target shale formation, increasing the connectivity of the fracture system. The reduced pressure following the fracturing activities could release methane in solution, leading to methane exsolving rapidly from solution, allowing methane gas to potentially migrate upward through the fracture system.”