Range Resources, fighting claims by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it "caused or contributed" to the contamination of two Parker County water wells, says in court filings that the EPA's conclusions are "sheer guesswork" based on "threadbare-thin" reasoning.
In filings with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Range also argues that the EPA's Dec. 7 emergency order against the Fort Worth-based natural gas producer requires the company to engage in fact-finding efforts that the agency itself should have undertaken.
The EPA pinpointed two Range natural gas wells, drilled more than a mile deep into the Barnett Shale, as the likely sources of methane contamination in the residential water wells in far south Parker County that are approximately 200 to 220 feet deep. Methane is the chief component of natural gas.
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