TOWANDA - Crystal Stroud of Granville Summit said that several days after the recent drilling of a gas well near her home, barium was found in her well water, and that a little over a week later, she came down with barium poisoning.
In a prepared statement that she read at the Bradford County commissioners' meeting on Thursday, Stroud said that April 11 was the day her family's world "spun out of control."
On April 11, her family was notified by Benchmark Analytics Inc. of Sayre that their water well was contaminated with barium, strontium, manganese, lead, methane, radiological material and radon, Stroud said in her statement.
Stroud said that the contamination was caused by the recent drilling of Chief Oil & Gas' Andrus gas well 1,200 feet from her home, or by another gas well in that section of the county.
However, Chief Oil & Gas has since disputed Stroud's claims that the Andrus well could have been the cause of her illness, saying that the Andrus well has not yet been "fracked," and that none of the chemical compounds and metals that Stroud refers to were used in drilling the Andrus well.
Barium is a waste product from hydraulic fracturing.
Granville Summit woman says she fell ill after gas well drilling - News - Daily Review
