University of Cincinnati Pressured to Publish Ohio Groundwater Study

From the Times Reporter:
State Rep. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, is calling upon the University of Cincinnati Department of Geology to release its full findings from a study looking into water quality in Carroll and four other counties in eastern Ohio. 
The study determined that natural gas drilling has had no effect on the quality of water coming from wells, primarily in Carroll County. It looked at water quality in Carroll, Columbiana, Stark, Harrison and Belmont counties from 2012 through 2015. 
Researchers were trying to determine whether hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — creates dangerous levels of methane in well water. 
Amy Townsend-Small of the University of Cincinnati presented the findings at the February meeting of Carroll Concerned Citizens in Carrollton. 
In a press release, Thompson said he is “perplexed” at why the full study has not been released. 
“It is unacceptable that taxpayers have funded this important groundwater study and the findings are now being kept from the public,” he said. “UC has still not produced a full report of their findings, nor has the university issued a press release of their results.
Thompson isn't the only one pushing for the results to be publicized.  From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
Unfortunately Townsend-Small said her team’s research won’t be publicized further because the study’s funders stopped supporting them because of they didn’t like the findings. 
“I’m really sad to say this but some of our funders, the groups that had given us funding in the past, were a little disappointed in our results,” Townsend-Small told the audience. “They feel that fracking is scary and so they were hoping our data could point to a reason to ban it.” 
No press releases, no research papers, and no data released for the public or other researchers to dig deeper. 
That’s not just disappointing; it looks to be in violation of the grant the University of Cincinnati used to fund its research. 
The premise of the research project was to see what effects hydraulic fracturing has on drinking water by testing wells before, during, and after fracturing took place.
There is some documentation available from the study, posted by Carroll Concerned Citizens.



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