[CitizensTruth] Louisisana: cattle dropping dead, proprietary green fluid spewing into the air

[Hal Snyder]

16 Cattle Drop Dead Near Mysterious Fluid at Gas Drilling Site

April 30, 2009

[bold added]

Sixteen cattle dropped dead in a northwestern Louisiana field this  
week after apparently drinking from a mysterious fluid adjacent to a  
natural gas drilling rig, according to Louisiana's Department of  
Environmental Quality and a report in the Shreveport Times. At least  
one worker told the newspaper that the fluids, which witnesses  
described as green and spewing into the air near the drilling derrick,  
were used for a drilling process called hydraulic fracturing. But the  
company, Chesapeake Energy, has not identified exactly what chemicals  
are in those fluids and is insisting to state regulators that no spill  
occurred.

The problem is that both Chesapeake and its contractor doing the work  
Schlumberger, say that a lot of these fluids are proprietary, said  
Otis Randle, regional manager for the DEQ. "It can be an obstacle, but  
we try to be fair to everybody," he said. "We try to remember that the  
products they use are theirs and they need them to make a living."



Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our  
free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social  
responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders  
as possible. - Milton Friedman

The key to sound environmental policy is respect for private property  
rights. - Ron Paul
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