Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) in Louisiana

8/23/10-Louisiana Fracking Operations Suspect in Cow Deaths

Last year, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) wrote about the deaths of 17 cows in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. The cows allegedly died after consuming fluid that spilled from a natural gas wellpad, said the NRDC. More? Click Here.

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Hydraulic Fracturing in Louisiana

In Louisiana, Chesapeake Energy Corp. and its contractor Schlumberger Technology Corp., were fined $22,000 for violating state law in connection with the April 2009 deaths of 17 cows. The cows apparently drank fracking fluid that had discharged from a natural gas well site in Cado Parish.

The cows were discovered in a pasture owned by Cecil and Tyler Williams on state Highway 169 near the corner of Keatchie-Marshall Road in south Caddo Parish. The deaths were reported at some point after a liquid leaked from the well, which was in the completion process, and pooled into a low area accessible to the cows. The substance later was determined to contain elevated chlorides, oil, grease and some organic compounds.

Local residents had reported the cattle were foaming at the mouth, bellowing and had bleeding tongues. One resident captured video of the fluid, which was described as yellowish-green and smelled like a combination of antifreeze and petrochemical. At least one worker told the Shreveport Times that the fluids were used for hydraulic fracturing.

At the time, Schlumberger, as a contractor of Chesapeake, was performing routine fracturing of the natural gas well. Louisiana regulators determined that fluid leaked from the well pad then ran into an adjacent pasture after a rain.

In March 2010, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality mailed identical letters spelling out the settlement agreement with both companies. Each must pay $22,000 for violating state law.

Both companies deny the material discharged from the natural gas well site killed the cows, deny violations were committed and neither makes an admission of liability, according to the settlement document.