Study: “Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health,” and what you can do about it.

Veterinarian Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Cornell University published their findings on livestock and pet illness related to fracking in “New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy” earlier this year.  “Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health” is a hair-raiser.  “Because animals often are exposed continually to air, soil, and groundwater and have more frequent reproductive cycles,” the abstract explains, “animals can be used as sentinels to monitor impacts to human health.”  The authors most frequently observed reproductive, neurological, respiratory, and musculoskeletal failure, and sudden death.  It doesn’t take much imagination to see how these problems can creep up on people with chronic exposure.

Farmers, ranchers, and people who live close to the land and rely on clean air, soil, and water for their livelihoods are bearing the brunt for irresponsible drilling.  In one case reported, “exposure to drilling wastewater led to a quarantine of beef cattle and significant uncompensated economic loss to the farmers.” Most chilling was the sudden death of 17 cows in one hour after exposure to fracking fluid.  Notably, “the final necropsy report listed the most likely cause of death as respiratory failure with circulatory collapse,” not necessarily drinking the poisoned water.  In another case, 60 head drank from a creek into which wastewater was dumped.  The other 36 head did not drink from the creek. “Of the 60 head that were exposed to the creek water, 21 died and 16 failed to produce calves the following spring.”  The unexposed 36 had no unusual problems.  Illegal dumping of wastewater was not the only culprit: “at another farm, 140 head were exposed when the liner of a wastewater impoundment was allegedly slit… and the fluid drained into the pasture and pond used as a source of water for the cows.” Half of those 140 cattle died, and “there was a high incidence of stillborn and stunted calves.”  Ranchers take note: contamination can devastate a livestock operation, and with current levels of regulation, receiving just compensation could be an uphill battle.

The study looked at toxicity in pets as well: “[Home]owners have observed wastewater being spread on the roads during all weather conditions, and noted that cats and dogs in their neighborhood licked their paws after walking on the road, and also drank from wastewater puddles; some of these animals became severely ill and died over a period of one to three days following these exposures.”

The effects appeared in people, too, particularly children, who are more vulnerable to toxins.  “A child living in Home B began showing signs of fatigue, severe abdominal pain, sore throat, and backache. Six months later, the child was hospitalized with confusion and delirium and was given morphine for abdominal pain… A toxicology test revealed arsenic poisoning as the cause of the child’s sickness. The family stopped using their well water despite test results indicating that the water was safe to drink, and the child gradually recovered after losing one year of school. During high-volume hydraulic  fracturing, substances that occur naturally in the shale, including arsenic, come to the surface in wastewater. In this case, the wastewater was stored in the impoundment, where aerators misted the chemicals into the air, increasing the chances of inhalation by animals and people; also, surface spillage of wastewater, as noted above, could have contaminated the ground water.”

Interestingly, these findings corroborate those of the Energy Institutes’ study, (which KSAT 12 reported as “Fracking Does Not Contaminate Groundwater.”)  The overwhelming evidence from both studies is that, regardless of what fracking does to groundwater, the common practices of the industry — dumping wastewater, misting chemicals into the air, storing wastewater in unlined or poorly-lined tanks, and transporting waste in open trucks — are immediately and immensely harmful, and also avoidable.

How can we avoid contamination?  The good news is that this study is ongoing.  Michelle Bamberger wants to document  cases of toxicity in Texas specifically.  If you or anyone you know has experienced poisonings, spills, animal illness or death, please send her an email at mjb57@cornell.edu.