A gas company that legally doused a patch of West Virginia forest with salty wastewater from a drilling operation killed ground vegetation within days and more than half the trees within two years, a new report from the U.S. Forest Service says.
Lead researcher Mary Beth Adams says that the damage to the quarter-acre, detailed in a case study published in the Journal of Environmental Quality, shows the need for more research into industry practices.
"There is virtually no information in the scientific literature about the effects of gas well development on forests in the eastern U.S.," she said Monday. That "paucity of knowledge" must be filled so land managers and regulators can make better decisions.
For starters, Adams' report suggests West Virginia create a land-disposal formula that incorporates not only the concentration of salt and chemicals in treated hydraulic fracturing fluid but also the size of the area it can be applied to. Adams says that could help prevent overdoses like the one that occurred in the Monongahela National Forest.
One group has seized on the report already, arguing it shows the need for tighter regulations on how industry disposes of fracking fluid.
"This study suggests that these fluids should be treated as toxic waste," argues Jeff Ruch, executive director of a whistleblower group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "The explosion of shale gas drilling in the East has the potential to turn large stretches of public lands into lifeless moonscapes."