Fracking’s Toll on Pets, Livestock Chills Pennsylvania Farmers: Commentary

[limpyhobbler]

Smelling gas one morning, a southern Pennsylvania farmer almost passed out when he went outside to check on his bellowing cows.

One of the animals did keel over, kicking its feet in spasms. A couple of days later, a calf was fighting for its life, the farmer said. It died.

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

-snip-

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.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-08/fracking-s-toll-on-pets-livestock-chills-pennsylvania-farmers-commentary.html


Because of all the health problems and problems with drinking water, people in this whole region have been calling for a halt to fracking until more study can be done.

But the gas companies don't want to wait at all. They just want to keep on drilling for gas, full speed ahead. They only want money and they don't care about the people who have to live here and drink the water. Or the effect on animals and crops. It is clean water activists versus gas and oil companies. So I don't need to tell you, basically we're screwed.

[hootinholler]

1. Thanks for posting that! n/t

[ellisonz]

2. K & R

[jsmirman]

3. I just want to scream

repeatedly.

Like I've said, why don't the execs of these fracking companies drink about 16 tall glasses of (extremely) local water every day during, and for a few months after the fracking. You couldn't pay them enough to do that. BULLSHIT, ARGH, BULLSHIT!!!!!!!

[limpyhobbler]

10. yep

I read a report about a gas company exec drinking a glass of water from allegedly near a frack site.
It was a stunt at a conference. It probably wasn't even real.

Of course that's different than having to drink it all that time, shower in it etc.

[Lunacee2012]

4. I've heard that some of the water is now

flammable. The taps literally shoot flaming water. Is this true?

[ellisonz]

7. Yes.

That's CNN too...

[Lunacee2012]

8. Damn! The water actually catches on fire!

Those people might as well be drinking gas!

[Scootaloo]

5. Back in the old days, there was a penalty for killing another person's livestock

Not sayin' it's a good idea... but I AM sayin' there was a penalty, know what I'm sayin'?

Just sayin'

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

6. I think it's way premature...

... to conclude Big Gas & Oil have won this. Every human being needs clean water. This will be a matter of waking people up to the harmful effects of fracking, something even some elements of mainstream media are beginning to help with -- at least here in the DFW area.

I think Big Gas & Oil will lose this one.

[blue neen]

9. I sincerely hope that you are right.

Big Oil & Gas own Pennsylvania right now.

[riderinthestorm]

12. We have to do something quickly though to stop them or it will be too late.

The contamination is happening fast. H2OMan's hunger fast has sharpened our attention but the nation hasn't figured out the dangers yet. Even the old guy in the CNN video upthread says that he thinks drilling can be done safely even as he suffers from the effects, he's still blind.

[FreeJoe]

11. Smelling gas?

The article starts out "Smelling gas one morning..." I thought that natural gas was odorless. Is that not true?

[Ikonoklast]

13. That got me too, natgas is odorless, they have to 'odorize' it in order to be noticed if there is

a gas leak.


What people think is the smell of natgas is actually ethyl mercaptan.

Unless there was a blowout of hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs and is quite poisonous.


I think some people are looking to cash in by blaming something unrelated to fracking for their misfortune.

There are plenty of real problems related to fracking without having to fabricate any.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

14. I'm just speculating but

perhaps the smell was related to the toxins used in the flush-out water?

The process uses a mixture of a long list of highly toxic chemicals, in thousands of gallons of water to flush the mine...the water then has to be disposed of as well.

That's the process in a nutshell---I admit, I don't have time right now to dig up the specific info, but it would be easy to google for. Anyway, seems that the toxic mixture could be causing the smell.....and the deaths.

[NMDemDist2]

15. it is, but a gas that is often in the same area is H2S and it will kill you quick

Hydrogen sulfide (British English: hydrogen sulphide) is the chemical compound with the formula H2S. It is a colorless, very poisonous, flammable gas with the characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. It often results from the bacterial breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen, such as in swamps and sewers; this process is commonly known as anaerobic digestion. It also occurs in volcanic gases, natural gas, and some well waters....

Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic and flammable gas (flammable range: 4.3–46%). Being heavier than air, it tends to accumulate at the bottom of poorly ventilated spaces. Although very pungent at first, it quickly deadens the sense of smell, so potential victims may be unaware of its presence until it is too late. For safe handling procedures, a hydrogen sulfide material safety data sheet (MSDS) should be consulted.[9]......

Long-term, low-level exposure may result in fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, irritability, poor memory, and dizziness. Chronic exposure to low level H2S (around 2 ppm) has been implicated in increased miscarriage and reproductive health issues among Russian and Finnish wood pulp workers,[16] but the reports have not (as of circa 1995) been replicated.
0.0047 ppm is the recognition threshold, the concentration at which 50% of humans can detect the characteristic odor of hydrogen sulfide,[17] normally described as resembling "a rotten egg".
Less than 10 ppm has an exposure limit of 8 hours per day.
10–20 ppm is the borderline concentration for eye irritation.
50–100 ppm leads to eye damage.
At 100–150 ppm the olfactory nerve is paralyzed after a few inhalations, and the sense of smell disappears, often together with awareness of danger.[18][19]
320–530 ppm leads to pulmonary edema with the possibility of death.
530–1000 ppm causes strong stimulation of the central nervous system and rapid breathing, leading to loss of breathing.
800 ppm is the lethal concentration for 50% of humans for 5 minutes exposure (LC50).
Concentrations over 1000 ppm cause immediate collapse with loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.
Although respiratory paralysis may be immediate, it can also be delayed up to 72 hours.[20]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide

[stuntcat]

16. Shame shame shame

Shame on Humanity that we've started doing this. and blowing off mountaintops. and wiping out so many species. and killing parts of the oceans.

I feel shame shame shame, only proud that I didn't give a baby the rest of this century.