Chapter 5 Threats
Constituents of fracking fluids vary depending on subterranean conditions and the company conducting the hydraulic fracturing, but sand is often a component of fracking fluids. Increased demand for sand for fracking could potentially lead to increased sand mining. Increased sand mining has the potential to impact wildlife habitat (see Section 5.5.5). Studies have shown that wildlife located in areas of unconventional oil and gas extraction tend to avoid these areas due to noise pollution from increased traffic on rural roads, drilling mud pits, building storage sites, processing plant operations, and compressing stations (Drohan et al. 2012) . Drilling mud pits have been reported to entrap migratory birds and other wildlife, and wastewater impoundments have been known to entrap deer and foxes (Ramirez 2009) . Some species may be more sensitive to this noise pollution than others. Altered habitat selection due to wildlife avoiding these areas may have effects on reproduction and survival. Future research should consider the effects chemicals used in fracking can have on wildlife. Many animals that have come into contact with chemicals used in fracking show signs of “shale gas syndrome,” which is noted to affect the neurological, dermatological, gastrointestinal, respiratory, and vascular systems. Because studies are finding these results in livestock, we can infer that these chemicals could have the same effect on North Carolina wildlife. As with other routes of exposure to chemicals (i.e., industry, agriculture, forestry), this poses a risk to wildlife populations as well as to humans who consume fish and wildlife because many chemicals bioaccumulate in tissue. Contaminants found in a Kentucky stream showed low pH and concentrated toxic chemicals of aluminum and iron that resulted in stressed aquatic life and gill lesions in fish (Papoulias and Velasco 2013) . Fish also bioaccumulate these toxins, which can pose a risk to human consumption. In livestock, it has been documented that cattle exposed to sulfur dioxide during gestation from fracking air pollution had an increased risk of calf mortality and higher occurrence of respiratory lesions (Waldner 2008; Waldner and Clark 2009) . Further research is needed to investigate the effects chemicals used in fracking will have on wildlife. 5.5.4 Hydropower – Anticipated Impacts Hydropower is created by harnessing the energy of falling water. In North Carolina, large rivers and high gradient streams have been dammed in the past to create impoundments for hydroelectric power production. Some reservoirs in our state were created solely for the purpose of creating hydropower. For other reservoirs, hydropower is one of several purposes of the impoundment, along with flood control or water supply creation. More recently, existing dams have been retrofitted to allow operators to generate hydropower. In recent years, some inoperable hydroelectric plants have been removed to restore streams and rivers to a free- flowing state. Hydroelectric plants have similar impacts as other impoundments: streams and rivers impounded by dams are changed from lotic systems to lentic systems. Downstream water quality can also suffer from low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels and altered temperatures (lower water temperatures if water is released from near the bottom of the reservoir). In addition,
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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