What happened:

1. Last week the EPA announced the results of its study of fracking and the water supply. On Friday local reporter Casey Junkins summarized the report in a front page story, "EPA: Fracking No Water Threat," suggesting that the results were conclusive. On the other hand, a number of media reports about the study (like the original AP story) called attention to critics who argued that the EPA study was not nearly that definitive.
2. On the weekend EPA officials were questioned about the report. They argued that it did not conclusively say that fracking poses no threat to the water supply.
   
3. Consequently, Monday brought us another AP report which stated as much. (This got far less coverage - see post below.)
4. Predictably, today's Intelligencer editorial attacked the EPA because they have supposedly backed away from the conclusion assigned them by the Intelligencer's original headline and article.
   

If you are concerned about fracking in West Virginia, you need to be following Duane Nichols over at Frack Check WV. He recently had an excellent post about this most recent EPA study:

Still, it’s odd, how this agency is everyone’s scapegoat for everything, except when it agrees with them. Though some assert that the EPA is a tool of the Obama administration we don’t buy that.

Men and women grounded in science don’t take direction from politicians, or should not. It’s counter-intuitive to act according to politics and agendas, rather than research and data.

Science is no game where we can afford to accept or deny its results. Nor should clean water ever become a political football.

Well-stated.