CBM development=West Nile Virus?

[Nemont]

Monday, June 07, 2004 - Wyoming's West Nile source studied

By Julie Cart
Los Angeles Times


SPOTTED HORSE, Wyo. — Most of Don Spellman's 8,000 acres in the Powder River Basin are rolling, treeless and, for the past several years, bone dry. But shimmering behind him as he drives fence posts into the hard-packed clay is a meandering, shallow lake that seems to spring from thin air.
The water, a byproduct of booming natural-gas production in the Rocky Mountain West, is also host to millions of mosquitoes. And it may be the solution to a medical puzzle.

West Nile virus, which can sicken and kill people and animals, began its march across the United States in 1999. Scientists initially expected the disease, which is transmitted by mosquito bites, to stall west of the Mississippi, where sources of standing water are scarce.

Instead, it has thrived. Ten of the states with the most illness per capita are west of the Mississippi. Eight are in a prolonged drought.

Four — Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and New Mexico — are experiencing a boom in natural-gas production. The gas is forced out of underground coal beds by pumping millions of gallons of underground water to the surface. The process leaves warm, shallow ponds — ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes — scattered across the usually arid landscape.

As researchers trace the possible link between natural-gas production and the illness, places such as Campbell County in northeastern Wyoming, which has nearly 13,000 coal-bed methane wells, have become open-air laboratories. This summer, researchers from two universities are testing water sources in the region, including natural-gas discharge ponds, for mosquitoes that spread West Nile.

There are thousands of such ponds in Campbell County, one of the driest in Wyoming. Last year, the county of 33,600 people recorded the state's second-highest number of cases of West Nile infection, with 66. Wyoming had 373 human cases in 2003, the sixth-highest rate in the United States.

Coal-bed methane is by no means the only source of standing water in a region that depends on crop irrigation. But in Campbell County and the surrounding Powder River Basin, gas production pumps out 60 million gallons of water a day, outstripping agriculture's contribution to standing water.

Moreover, hydrologists note that unlike seeps, springs and irrigation ditches, discharge ponds related to natural-gas production are present even in the dry summer months when other standing water often evaporates.

"Common sense tells you that if you've got that many water sources that were not there before, they are going to create mosquitoes," said Terry Creekmore, West Nile coordinator for the Wyoming Department of Health. Domestic energy production has been a priority for the Bush administration, with gas-drilling permits across the Rocky Mountains on a fast track.

The Washington, D.C., office of the Bureau of Land Management has ordered all state offices to expedite oil and gas permitting. The Powder River Basin has the highest concentration of coal-bed methane development in the United States.


Don Likwartz, Wyoming's oil and gas supervisor, said his office was approving 25 new drilling permits a day. More than 51,000 additional wells are projected to be in production in the basin in the next 10 years.

Ranchers and environmentalists in the region were bitterly critical of the coal-bed methane boom before West Nile became an issue. At first, their main concern was that water pumped to the surface was sometimes so toxic that it destroyed grass and other plants on which livestock and wildlife depended. Now, they fear the discharge ponds will put their health at risk.

Spellman's ranch was one of the places where mosquitoes trapped by researchers last summer tested positive for West Nile.

Spellman, a lifelong resident of the area, said that since coal-bed methane production began a few years ago, he had noticed "50 to 100 times" more mosquitoes.

So far on his ranch only birds have been affected by the virus. Indeed, the discovery of infected sage grouse last summer was one of the first signs the disease had arrived. The grouse, which nests in sagebrush and is native to Western prairies, has been in decline for many years and is a candidate for the endangered-species list.

Researchers examining birds that had been fitted with radio collars determined that 90 percent of sage grouse nesting near coal-bed methane ponds in Campbell County had died of West Nile, while none of those nesting away from those water sources had contracted the virus.

Testing for the virus near coal-bed methane sites, which began in Campbell County, is now going on in parts of Montana and Alberta, Canada. The research is being sponsored by the BLM and the energy industry.

In Wyoming, researchers in Campbell County are extracting mosquito larvae from water sources — methane discharge ponds, natural springs and stock ponds — and testing for West Nile. The method, scientists say, provides conclusive proof of the origin of the infected mosquitoes.

"Let's look at it. There is very little standing water in Campbell County," said Kirk Miller, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Wyoming. "There are small ponds and such, but the source of water for a lot of the basin is groundwater, not surface water. The onset of West Nile to this part of the country is contemporaneous to the rapid development of coal-bed methane."

Michael Caskey, chief executive of Denver-based Fidelity Exploration and Production, said his company was considering placing chemicals to kill mosquito larvae in its discharge ponds.

"We're just in the throes of looking at it and testing," Caskey said. Fidelity operates about 1,000 coal-bed methane wells in neighboring Sheridan County. "But we don't believe there is a connection, per se, with the water resource we're developing and the other water in the area. Nothing has been proven."

But even as industry leaders say they are skeptical of the connection between West Nile and natural-gas production, at least one gas company here recently sent letters to landowners informing them that they would place larvicide in discharge ponds.

"It's about being good neighbors. We're working on it," said Dru Bower, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

For now, treatment of standing water produced by natural-gas development in Wyoming is voluntary. Neither the BLM, which administers federal permits, nor the Wyoming State Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which issues drilling permits on state and private land, requires any form of mosquito abatement on discharge ponds.

 

[pawclaws]

That doesn't sound promising at all. What kind of mosquito problems do you Western guys experience? Here they are sometimes absolutely miserable. Fishing creeks, riverbanks, and ponds during summer evenings can get one eaten alive.

 

[Nemont]

The Milk River valley is Mosquito heaven. Saco even has a festival in their honor. We used to spray with Malathion but it killed all the birds so now we use a different spray that doesn't work. We have had several west nile cases here in my county including my neice.

Nemont

 

[pawclaws]

Sorry to hear about your neice Nemont. I'm not totally convinced that West Nile isn't something man made. Tough subject to get any solid information on. Something I've been experimenting with here on ants is a two percent vinegar solution. It kills about 80 percent of them on contact and about 95 percent within thirty seconds. I'll try it on mosquitos and let you guys know what happens.

 

[ELKCHSR]

The only way to really deal with mosquito's is to hit them in the larval stage when they aren't out and about. The big problem with that is every thing else that is effected by nailing the little buggers in that stage is that it affects that animal also.
I heard on the news a couple weeks ago that West Nile is expected to be in this part of Montana by this summer.
Sorry to hear about your neice Nemont, is she O.K.?

 

[pawclaws]

Well; vinegar when sprayed on mosquitos makes them wet and smell like vinegar!

 

[pawclaws]

Maybe this will help. A Louisiana pal sent it to me:

Use Bounce Fabric Softener Sheets...Best thing ever used in
>Louisiana...just wipe on & go...Great for Babies
>
> Bob, a fisherman, takes one vitamin B-1 tablet a day April through
>October . He said it works. He was right.
>
> Hasn't had a mosquito bite in 33 years. Try it. Every one he has
>talked into trying it works on them. Vitamin B-1( Thiamine Hydrochloride
>100 mg.)
>
> If you eat bananas, the mosquitoes like you, - something about the
>banana oil as your body processes it.
>
> Stop eating bananas for the summer and the mosquitoes will be much
>less interested.
>
> This is going to floor you, but one of the best insect repellents
>someone found (who is in the woods every day), is Vick's Vapor Rub.
>
> Plant marigolds around the yard, the flowers give off a smell that
>bugs do not like, so plant some in that garden also to help ward off bugs
>without using insecticides.
>
> "Tough guy" Marines who spend a great deal of time "camping out" say
>that the very best mosquito repellant you can use is Avon Skin-So-Soft bath
>oil mixed about half and half with alcohol.
>
> One of the best natural insect repellants that I've discovered is
>made from the clear real vanilla. This is the pure Vanilla that is sold in
>Mexico.
>
> It works great for mosquitoes and ticks, don't know about other
>insects.
>
>
>
>
>
> When all else fails--get a frog
>
>
>
>
> Fight West Nile...
> ..pass this along to all your friends in skeeter land!!!

 

[Nemont]

My neice has recovered fully but was very, very ill for nearly 3 Months.

Nemont

 

[feclnogn]

Ya know, the mosquitos here in New Mexico are some big ole mohers fuggers. In fact about 2 years ago I caught one screwing one of my fathers chickens. Maybe this is where some of these strange diseases like west nile come from. Cross breeding gone wrong???

 

[pawclaws]

What was that article you posted a while back covering "prions" (phonetic spelling)? I think the decision was that three abnormal sexual contacts; ergo man plus sheep, man plus horse, and man plus hog (just as one example) could result in an unknown weird virus with no natural antibodies. If our science is at a stage where that kind of biology is understood; then, you can bet we are dealing with a lot of strange experimentation.