An article in today's Casper Star-Tribune reports that the mule deer population in the Pinedale anticline of Wyoming has experienced "substantial decreases" due to the extensive natural gas development in the region. A state biologist announced that the mule deer population has reached a dangerously low threshold that triggers a mandatory mitigation response under federal rules.
A recent article in the Charleston, West Virginia Gazette quotes state biologists who are extremely concerned about the threats to fish and other aquatic life from natural gas drilling in their state. The threats include water pollution from toxic hydraulic fracturing chemicals as well as the dangers of sediment and the dewatering of important aquatic habitat. The biologists say that state regulations in West Virginia have not been updated to properly oversee this industry and its potential impacts. Said one: ""The bottom line is that people outside West Virginia are making decisions about what is going to be done here, and we don't have a coherent regulatory apparatus in place."