Source : ePluribus Media

Below is the opening paragraph (about Louisiana) and video (about Texas) from an April 2009 news article detailing cases of cattle being poisoned (and in some cases killed) by frack fluid.  The piece is full of links and references – I urge you to read more for a perspective I’d expect will be of particular significance to area cattle farmers.

The drilling crew at a Chesapeake well site in Louisiana was “injecting fluids at high pressure to break down the shale and release natural gas,” when some cattle ingested the fluid and died. 19 of the cattle died.

Source : AlterNet

New York’s Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure today at 12:17 a.m. that would postpone gas drilling in its share of the Marcellus Shale, a methane-rich rock formation that also extends under parts of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania (for more on the topic, check out AlterNet’s coverage here). Drilling has been halted until May 15, 2011.

The 48-9 decision is a result of increased attention on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial gas extraction process that involves pulverizing underground rock formations with pressurized water, sand and chemicals. Fracking, as it’s also called, has been linked to a potpourri of environmental problems across the United States — from air pollution to methane leakage to cattle deaths.

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