16 Cattle Drop Dead Near Mysterious Fluid at Gas Drilling Site in Louisiana

[Ian David]

16 Cattle Drop Dead Near Mysterious Fluid at Gas Drilling Site in Louisiana.

ProPublica has been reporting for months about how natural gas drilling is affecting the environment, but of all the causes for concern we've reported, here's a doozy.

Sixteen cattle dropped dead in a northwestern Louisiana field this week after apparently drinking from a mysterious fluid adjacent to a natural gas drilling rig, according to Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality and a report in the Shreveport Times. At least one worker told the newspaper that the fluids, which witnesses described as green and spewing into the air near the drilling derrick, were used for a drilling process called hydraulic fracturing. But the company, Chesapeake Energy, has not identified exactly what chemicals are in those fluids and is insisting to state regulators that no spill occurred.

The problem is that both Chesapeake and its contractor doing the work Schlumberger, say that a lot of these fluids are proprietary, said Otis Randle, regional manager for the DEQ. "It can be an obstacle, but we try to be fair to everybody," he said. "We try to remember that the products they use are theirs and they need them to make a living."

Hydraulic fracturing -- a process in which water, sand and chemicals are pumped deep underground at high pressure to break rock and release natural gas -- is controversial because of the secrecy surrounding the fluids and because the process is exempted from protections of the Safe Drinking Water Act and thus from regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency. Congress is currently considering legislation to address these issues out of concern that fracturing, and the fluids and waste that are part of the process, may be contaminating drinking water in several states.



More:
http://www.propublica.org/article/16-cattle-drop-dead-near-mysterious-fluid-at-gas-drilling-site-430

[barbtries]

1. i read the linked article

and another article linked from there. the situation stinks. the people in charge are acting as if there is any doubt that the chemicals being used by the gas drilling company killed the cows. and in the meantime, the gas drilling company is allowed to clean the site up. as one commenter noted, what if it was a murder scene...? oops. think 911.

more things change more they stay the same. apparently it will take humans dropping dead for there to be any oversight on companies like Schlumberger or Halliburton. we cannot even know what chemicals they shoot into the ground to get the gas out, because the information is "proprietary."

stinks.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Fact. Any chemical you send down hole is hazardous.

If it spills on the ground it is a recordable spill. Schlumberger knows this.

[hunter]

3. Hydraulic fracturing is a loathsome process...

...a great hazard to the environment, and a great hazard to our economic well being.

It is mostly being used to inflate share prices by inflating the natural gas "reserves" on corporate balance sheets.

They are creating a bubble that's ultimately going to do more damage to our economy than the oil bubble and the real estate bubble.

[liberal N proud]

4. Mysterious Fluid at Gas Drilling Site.? Does anyone think this wouldn't be toxic?

Hmmmmmmm!