Some Farmers Fear Fracking Hurts Livestock

Businessweek (via Big Picture Agriculture):

Something awful is happening over the Marcellus Shale, the vast geological formation in eastern North America where energy companies are looking for natural gas.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process for extracting gas by injecting high volumes of water and chemicals into deep wells, has sparked complaints about ruined landscapes and fouled groundwater. Increasingly there is evidence, mostly anecdotal, that animals are suffering.

A new study by veterinarian Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald, a professor of veterinary medicine at Cornell University, chronicles case studies of dozens of farmers and pet owners in six states over the Marcellus Shale.

Their findings, published in “New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy,” are a harrowing account of sudden deaths of cattle, as well as reproductive and neurological problems in horses, cats, dogs and other animals.

The Pennsylvania farmers I spoke with have lost cows, calves, a horse, a couple dozen chickens. Many of the animals succumb in the same way: seizure-like symptoms, gasping for breath and a quick wasting away. A Rottweiler and a Dalmatian also fell ill and died.

These farmers are getting out of the beef business, in part over concern that their animals will become delivery systems for contaminants.

An organic farmer from southeast Ohio told me he has abandoned his cash crop, ginseng, for now, concerned that contaminants would enter his product. He began noticing changes around his 20-acre property in 2007, when a fracking operation began dumping wastewater nearby. He lost quite a few deer that were drawn to the brine and antifreeze in the fluid.

Energy representatives dismiss the veterinarians’ study. They say that health indicators have actually improved in areas with shale development.

“The paper is little more than a collection of personal testimonials that cannot be independently assessed or verified,” says Steve Everley, a spokesman for industry group Energy in Depth. “The paper is full of bold assertions about oil and gas development, but empty of any facts or scientific evidence to support those opinions.”

This is all anecdotal, but I'm guessing there will be more bad stories in the future.  I believe oil and gas deposits are a mixed blessing.  Fracking money has been a boon to Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, but I am glad western Ohio isn't caught up in the rush.  I don't think all the results will be positive from fracking, but I have no idea what the balance will be between the good and the bad.  I feel better not having to deal with the issue.