The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that fracking may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution. The controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells has been a source of debate across the country. The E.P.A. found that compounds likely associated with fracking chemicals had been detected in the groundwater beneath Pavillion, a small community in central Wyoming where residents say their well water reeks of chemicals. Health officials last year advised them not to drink their water after the E.P.A. found low levels hydrocarbons in their wells.

This time last year, 33 miners who had been trapped underground for 68 days in Chile were finally rescued. People in Chile and around the world watched as their rescue played out on televisions, radio and the internet. The whole event raised many questions, about what it means to be Chilean, what it's like to be trapped in a mine, and where the miners would go from here.

We continue our coverage of the rescue of the 33 men who were trapped in the San Jose mine in northern Chile by checking in with Jose Miguel Sarroca, an attorney, on this proud day for his country.

33 miners remain trapped more than 2,000 feet below ground at the San Jose copper and gold mine in Copiapo, Chile. 

It's still not known what caused the fatal explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine, a powerful blast that killed 29 miners in the worst mining disaster in a generation. But, in today's New York Times, a foreman from the Upper Big Branch Mine, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed a pattern of lax safety practices that pointed to disaster.

• RALEIGH TAKEOUT: We take a closer look at the mine blast in Raleigh County, West Virginia, hearing from Chuck Nelson, a former miner, who tells us why mining is so important to the culture of the county. 
• LISTENERS TAKEOUT: Beyond the sadness, condolences and concern our listeners asked another question: should the acquisition of energy still be so dangerous?

Monday night's explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia, left 25 confirmed dead and four more miners missing underground. Rescue operations were stalled yesterday because conditions were deemed too dangerous. The mine is owned by Massey Energy Company, which was immediately criticized for allowing egregious and numerous safety violations. Massey's CEO, Don Blankenship, responded in an interview with the Metronews radio network in West Virginia, saying, “violations are unfortunately a normal part of the mining process. There are violations at every coal mine in America.”

I remember the waiting.

It's been more than four years since I stood on the mouth of a coal mine, waiting for word on the fate of two missing miners. It was January 2006, at the Aracoma Mine in southern West Virginia. I was covering the story for West Virginia Public Radio. A fire had broken out in an underground mine and two men were missing. That alone was tragic enough, but it came just a few weeks after the Sago Mine Disaster, where 12 men died –  11 of them after they were poisoned by bad air while they waited for rescue.