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Cumberland Would Supply Water To Gas Driller

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) -- Cumberland officials say they have an agreement that would enable the western Maryland city to sell treated wastewater to a natural gas drilling company for an extraction technique called hydraulic fracturing.

Mayor Brian Grim and City Administrator Jeff Repp told the Cumberland Times-News on Monday about the deal the city struck last August with Samson Resources of Tulsa, Okla.

Samson is one of two companies seeking permits to use hydraulic fracturing to recover natural gas in far western Maryland.

The administration of Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is taking a cautious approach and hasn't granted any drilling permits.

The technique uses a mixture of sand, water and chemicals to force the gas out of the rock. It produces contaminated wastewater blamed for ground-water pollution elsewhere, including neighboring Pennsylvania.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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