Une première: bétail en quarantaine à cause du fracking

Photo: CatskillMountainkeeper.org

Sur une petite ferme de la Pennsylvanie, les autorités agricoles ont mis en quarantaine 28 bovins après que les eaux usées provenant d'un puits de gaz naturel et la fracturation hydraulique se sont infiltrées dans un champs et entrées en contact avec le troupeau. Bien que l'évènement se soit produit en mai, on l'apprend que maintenant!

Carol Johnson avait remarqué au début du mois de mai que des liquides qui s'accumulaient dans un champs tuaient le foin. Elle a tout de suite avisé le propriétaire du puits de gaz, East Resources Inc. "Çà sentait. L'herbe mourrait dit-elle. Quelque chose s'échappait et ce n'était pas de l'eau de source!".

La ferme se trouve au-dessus de la formation de shale (schiste) Marcellus qui s'étend sous la Virginie Occidentale, la Pennsylvanie, New York et l'Ohio. ProPublica a bien rapporté des cas de pollution d'eau souterraine, des déversements et d'autres impacts de la fracturation hydraulique. La technique de forage consiste à injecter de grandes quantités d'eau, de sable et de produits chimiques sous terre pour éclater le roc qui contient le gaz naturel.

Dans le cas des Johnsons, un mélange d'eau potable et d'eaux usées injecté dans le puits s'était échappé d'un bassin de décantation qui se trouvait sur la ferme. Des tests ont trouvé des produits chimiques dangereux et des métaux lourds comme du chlorure, du barium et du strontium.

On n'est pas certain si le bétail des Johnson a bu de cette eau. La quarantaine a été mise en vigueur pour s'assurer que les animaux ne soient pas mis sur le marché contaminés. Aussitôt avisés le 2 mai, la compagnie de forage a clôturé le pré contaminé, vidé le bassin de décantation et enlevé tout le sol contaminé. Le puits est maintenant fermé.

Ce n'est pas le premier accident de fracking qui implique des animaux de ferme. ProPublica a rapporté il y a de cela plus d'un an, que 16 bovins sont morts en Louisiane après avoir bu un liquide mystérieux près d'un puits de forage. Jusqu'à date, les vaches des Johnsons se portent bien.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A Fracking First in Pennsylvania: Cattle Quarantine

Agriculture officials have quarantined 28 beef cattle on a Pennsylvania farm after wastewater from a nearby gas well leaked into a field and came in contact with the animals. The state Department of Agriculture said the action was its first livestock quarantine related to pollution from natural gas drilling. Although the quarantine was ordered in May, it was announced Thursday.

Carol Johnson, who along with her husband owns the farm in north-central Pennsylvania, said she noticed in early May that fluids pooling in her pasture had killed the grass. She immediately notified the well owner, East Resources Inc. "You could smell it. The grass was dying," she said. "Something was leaking besides ground water."

The Johnsons' farm sits atop the Marcellus Shale, a layer of rock that lies under swaths of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. As ProPublica has reported, reports have proliferated of groundwater pollution, spills and other impacts of hydraulic fracturing, a drilling technique that injects massive amounts of water, sand and chemicals underground to break up the formations that hold the gas.

In the Johnsons' case, a mixture of fresh water and wastewater that had been injected into the well leaked from an impoundment pit on the farm, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said. Tests performed for East Resources Inc., found hazardous chemicals and heavy metals, including chloride, barium and strontium. East did not dispute that a leak had occurred.

It's unclear whether the Johnsons' animals drank any of the wastewater. The quarantine was put in place to ensure the animals did not go to market with contamination. Upon being notified May 2, Rhoads said, the company immediately fenced off the Johnsons' pasture and began to empty the impoundment and remove all contaminated soil. The well has since been shut down.

The incident isn't the first report of farm animals being affected by fracking. As we reported more than a year ago, 16 cattle died in Louisiana after drinking a mysterious fluid next to a drilling rig. The Johnsons' cows have fared better so far."

Excerpts from article written by Nicholas Kusnetz published in Pro Publica here: http://www.propublica.org/article/a-fracking-first-in-pennsylvania-cattle-quarantine

We're still waiting to see if Molopo will get the green light to go ahead and drill in Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu, on good agricultural land, too near a daycare center. Just knowing that our Natural Resources Minister is right now sitting with the ex-president of Hydro-Quebec, formerly from Gaz Metropolitain and now on the board of Junex (a gas exploration co.), to write up the laws that will regulate the natural gas industry in Quebec gives me the willies!