This video shows Texas Black Angus cattle drinking from Barnett Shale drilling sludge pits at two different drilling sites in Denton County. I have witnessed cattle drinking from sludge pits regularly over the past few years. Unlike some other states, Texas law does not require that sludge pits be lined or fenced, but it does require the pits be "cleaned up" within 120 days after completion of the well. There are many sludge pits in Texas that never get cleaned up. These are a threat to wildlife, livestock, soil and our drinking water.
As domestic drilling increases in other areas such as the Marcellus Shale and Haynesville Shale, so do the threats.
YouTube stripped the sound track, Cheeseburger in Paradise out of this video so I guess you'll just have to hum.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a study in December 2000 titled, Wildlife Mortality Risk in Oil Field Waste Pits. Findings from the study:
- Even if animals are not killed in the pits, the oil and chemicals in the pits can harm them later.
- Scavengers and predators can also suffer indirect effects by consuming oil-covered carcasses. (Could that apply to humans who eat meat contaminated with drilling waste?)
View a report on substances found in pits.
Between the mid-1980s and 2003, the New Mexico Environmental Bureau recorded nearly 7,000 cases of pits causing soil and water contamination. The New Mexico Oil Conservation Division released data in 2005 showing that close to 400 incidents of groundwater contamination had been documented from oil and gas pits.
chart showing pit chemicals:
A more extensive list of chemicals detected in sludge pits can be found HERE along with possible health effects from exposure to those chemicals.
Tuna contaminated with mercury carries a health risk. Natural gas streams often contain mercury. Could cheeseburgers contain mercury from natural gas sludge pits?
New Mexico had 1400 cases of groundwater contamination, 400 came from sludge pits.
Sludge pits are a threat to our wildlife, livestock, soil and our drinking water.
The Oil & Gas Accountability Project has a Do it Right plan for best practice in drilling.
Do it Right in Texas too!
Closed-loop systems can protect our wildlife, livestock, air, soil, and drinking. Industry can save money using a closed-loop system instead of pits.
Here, drilling waste is sprayed on a field in Booger County where cattle are grazing. This cavalier attitude toward toxic waste must stop!