19 cattle dead next to Chesapeake / Schlumberger well after fracking

[GDI]

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090429/NEWS01/904290368/1060

DEQ: 'Nobody is owning up to it'

By Vickie Welborn • vwel...@gannett.com • April 29, 2009

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• Cow Death Investigation
• Cow Death Investigation II

SPRING RIDGE – An unidentified substance that apparently flowed from a natural gas drilling site into a pasture is is being eyed as a potential cause of the deaths of 19 head of cattle Tuesday evening, according to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

The contaminated area is defined as about 20-by-20 yards and is adjacent to the well that Chesapeake Energy Corp. is drilling on state Highway 169 near the corner of Keatchie-Marshall Road in south Caddo Parish. Tests to determine the nature of the milky white substance that had pooled into a low area could take a week to complete, Northwest Regional Director Otis Randle said today.

Authorities believe the cows ingested the liquid before dying. Tracks went to and from the puddles, a Caddo sheriff’s office spokeswoman said.

Chesapeake and its fracing contractor, Schlumberger, have denied knowledge of a chemical release on the site, Randle said. “Nobody is owning up to it.”

There is no evidence of contamination beyond the impact area, Randle said.

A cow stands in a pasture near a Chesapeake Energy Corp. drilling site in southern Caddo Parish on Tuesday night. At least 18 cows died after a possible chemical spill. (Val Horvath/The Times)

An animal lies near the drilling site where at least 18 cows died Tuesday evening in a pasture next to a Chesapeake Energy Corp. drilling site in Caddo Parish. (Jim Hudelson/The Times)

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http://www.katc.com/global/story.asp?s=10275084

19 head of cattle die near north La. gas well

SPRING RIDGE, La. -- Nineteen cattle have died in in northwest Louisiana and investigators collected water samples Wednesday to determine if pollutants from a nearby natural gas well might have tainted their pastureland, a state environmental official said.

"It looks like some type of production fluid has run offsite and the cows got into it, ingested it," said Otis Randle, regional manager for the state Department of Environmental Quality.The owner had about 40 beef cows with calves in the pasture, said Sam Irwin, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry. He said 19 cows died but all of the calves _ he did not know how many or whether they were old enough to sell for beef _ were fine. Tissue samples from the dead cattle and one survivor were sent to Texas A and M for analysis, Irwin said.Randle cautioned that no determination has been made so far whether a chemical spill occurred and inspectors were collecting the water samples for testing.Randle said he will request results as soon as possible and hopes to get them within a week. He said investigators found white, milky puddles here and there both on the well site and in a 400 square-yard area just inside the pasture.Investigators couldn't tell where it came from, he said."As soon as we get results back, we'll be able to identify the product. When we do that, we'll know whose they were and where it came from," Randle said.He said the well's owner, Chesapeake Energy, vacuumed up the puddles Wednesday and planned to take soil samples and excavate the affected area Thursday.The livestock died Tuesday near rain puddles in their pasture, said a Caddo Parish sheriff's spokeswoman, Cindy Chadwick. Local residents reported the cattle were foaming at the mouth, bellowing and had bleeding tongues.The pasture fence is about 150 feet from the well, said Kevin McCotter, director of corporate development in Louisiana for Chesapeake Energy, which owns the well.Randle said he asked representatives from Chesapeake and oil service company Schlumberger Ltd. to identify any fluid that might have run into the pasture, but they said they had no indication of a spill.McCotter said the well's crew was injecting fluids at high pressure to break down the shale and release natural gas.Chadwick said air quality tests Tuesday night did not indicate any danger.Carol "C.C." Canady, president of United Neighbors for Oil and Gas Rights, said she saw at least four cows collapse and die."The cows' tongues hanging, bleeding off front and back, foaming at the mouth and bellowing" she said.William Dubose said he captured video of yellowish-green fumes that smelled like a combination of antifreeze and petrochemical.The cattle were on a pasture south of Spring Ridge, a community about 20 miles south of Shreveport.The parish landfill refused to take the carcasses, so they were taken to the owners' land for burial, Irwin said.

[GDI]

Looked up "United Neighbors for Oil and Gas Rights."  This is a cut-and-paste from their site; sorry about the all caps.  Egads, hard on the eyes!

"Chesapeake didn't want us there, so the deputies began ordering our people to leave."  That thar's yer corporate state fer ya, ma'am.

http://www.unitedneighborsforoilandgasrights.org/

I WENT TO TOWN ON WED. APRIL 28TH.  EVERYTHING WAS FINE AT THE PASTURE DOWN THE ROAD.  ON THE WAY HOME, I SAW FUNNY LOOKING STEAM COMING OFF THE WELL SITE.  IT MADE ME MAD, BECAUSE NO ONE CAN SEEM TO GET RID OF THE HEADACHES, COUGHS, NAUSEA WE HAVE BEEN HAVING SINCE THE DRILLING STARTED.

CAME ON HOME, GOT ON INTERNET TO DO SOME RESEARCH, AND A NEIGHBOR STOPPED BY AND TOLD ME THE COWS IN THE PASTURE WITH THE WELL, WERE DROPPING DEAD LIKE FLIES.  I CALLED DEQ, HOMELAND SECURITY, STATE POLICE, ETC., TO REPORT IT, THEN WENT TO THE SITE.  HAD MEMBERS IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA MEET ME DOWN THERE, SINCE THE CATTLE WERE DROPPING DEAD WITHIN THE HOUR, COULD WE BE NEXT?  WE GOT THE NEWS CREWS OUT THERE.  OUR MEMBERS WERE TAKING PICTURES AND VIDEOS, SINCE WE ARE PROBABLY GOING TO NEED THEM IN OUR LAWSUIT.

PRIOR TO EVERYONE GETTING THERE, I WAS SO MAD THAT I DROVE DOWN TO THE WELL SITE AND ASKED THE SUPERVISOR DID HE KNOW WHY THE COWS WERE DYING?  HE LOOKED AT ME WITH THIS "DUMB LOOK" AND SAID NO.  I TOLD HIM I HAVE A DVD THAT THE SIERRA CLUB HAD MADE THAT SHOWED THE SAME THING WE WERE LOOKING AT.  IT WAS THE TOXIC CHEMICALS THAT KILLED THE COWS.  OTHER COWS WERE STANDING THERE FOAMING AT THE MOUTH BELLOWING, AND DYING IN FRONT OF OUR EYES.  THEY WERE SUFFERING.  IT WAS NOT RIGHT.

THE SHERIFF'S DEPT ARRIVED ON THE SCENE.  AT FIRST, THEY WERE JUST DRIVING AND LOOKING.  WE WERE THERE FOR ABOUT AN HOUR, AND THEN CHESAPEAKE DECIDED THEY DID NOT WANT US THERE, SO THE DEPUTIES BEGAN ORDERING OUR PEOPLE TO LEAVE.  ONE DEPUTY,  IN PARTICULAR, GOT UP IN MY FACE HOLLERING AND SCREAMING AT ME, THAT HE WAS GOING TO ARREST ME.....HE FOLLOWED ME TO THE CAR HOLLERING AT ME AND TRYING TO PROVOKE ME. " HE WAS ONE OF THEM THAT I CALL...'LITTLE BITTY MAN WITH A GREAT BIG WANT TO BE MAN'S ATTITUDE' ".  HIS FACE WAS SO RED, I THOUGHT HE MIGHT PASS OUT, OR FILL HIS BRITCHES FULL, FROM ALL THE STRAINING HE WAS DOING.....

WE WERE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY THAT WE PAY TAXES ON, NOT IN ANYONES WAY, ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, PEACEFULLY PROTESTING THE DEATHS OF THE COWS, AND POSSIBLY THE LOSS OF HUMAN LIFE.  I SHUDDER TO THINK WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THE NEIGHBOR HAD NOT OF STOPPED AND TOLD ME, AND I BEGAN TO CALL THE DIFFERENT AGENCIES.  PROBABLY, NO ONE WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING, SO NO TELLING WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED.  THANK GOD, THERE WAS NO HUMAN LIFE LOSS, AS FAR AS WE KNOW, BUT ALOT OF PEOPLE DID SAY THEY FELT SICK, AND WANTED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL.

BUT, BACK TO THE DEPUTIES....THEY TOLD US WE DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE THERE, NOR PROTEST.  THE ONE THAT WAS SO RED IN THE FACE, SAID HE KNEW THE LAW AND WE COULD NOT PROTEST, HE WOULD ARREST US.  WELL, SADLY FOR HIM, WE KNOW THE LAW TOO.  AND, I STILL LIVE IN AMERICA, NOT A COMMUNIST COUNTRY, YET... AND I HAVE RIGHTS.  AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, HE VIOLATED OUR RIGHTS.  THIS IS OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, AND WE HAVE THE RIGHT NOT TO LIKE IT IF OUR ANIMALS START DYING, AND WE STAY SICK ALL THE TIME FROM THE DRILLING.  AND, WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST.  I WILL BE CALLING THE ACLU ON THIS....NOT TO MENTION OUR ATTORNEYS.

AS OF NOW, HAZ MAT, HAS THE SITE SURROUNDED.  AND THE DEPUTIES ARE SITTING AT THE ENTRANCE.  THE ROADS ARE NOT BLOCKED OFF.

ONE OF OUR MEMBERS DROVE BY, TAKING PICTURES, BECAUSE NOW THERE ARE OVER 30 DEAD COWS, ALL OF THEM PREGNANT, AND A DEPUTY WHO WAS PARKED, STARTED BLOWING HIS HORN, HOLLERING AT HIM, FLASHING HIS LIGHTS.  WHEN OUR MEMBER STOPPED, THE COP TOLD HIM HE COULD NOT DRIVE DOWN THE ROAD, HE COULD NOT LOOK, AND HE COULD NOT TAKE PICTURES.  OUR MEMBER TOLD HIM THE ROAD WAS NOT BLOCKED AND HE COULD LOOK AT ANYTHING HE WANTED TOO.  HE CAME AND TOLD ME, SO I DROVE BEHIND HIM AS HE DROVE BY AGAIN.  THE COP TURNED HIS HEAD (THEY KNOW MY VEHICLE), AS WE DROVE BY.

NOW, WHY WOULD THEY PROTECT "BIG BUSINESS" AND NOT "SERVE AND PROTECT" US THE TAXPAYERS?  BET I KNOW WHY.....

PEOPLE, WE NEED TO STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS, IF NOT, WE WILL WAKE UP ONE DAY AND NOT HAVE ANY.  ALREADY, THE O&G COMPANIES FRAUDENTLY GOT OUR MINERAL RIGHTS, AND ARE CONTINUING THEIR SHANANIGANS, AND IT SEEMS LIKE NO CAN STOP THEM.  BUT, I KNOW SOMEONE WHO HAS MORE POWER THAN THEY DO, AND THEY DO NOT WANT TO TANGLE WITH HIM.  IT BOTHERS HIM WHEN YOU JACK WITH HIS CHILDREN, AND HE ALREADY SAID THE BATTLE BELONGS TO HIM....

WE WILL BE HOLDING A MEETING SOON, AND WILL INFORM PEOPLE OF H2S.  ALSO, WE ARE PLANNING A PROTEST MARCH, VERY QUICKLY.  NEED PEOPLE TO CALL FOR PLACE AND TIME...