Recent floods across Texas have inundated oil wells and fracking sites, flushing crude oil and toxic fracking chemicals into the state's rivers.
State emergency management officials have taken dozens of photographs that show sheens and plumes spreading from tipped tanks and flooded production sites during the March flood of the Sabine River on the Texas-Louisiana border. Earlier photos showed similar scenes from last year's floods of the Trinity, Red and Colorado rivers.
A leading expert said that contaminated runoff could have deadly consequences. Dr. Walter Tsou, a physician and past president of the American Public Health Association, told the El Paso Times that in other areas this has resulted in poisoned livestock and an increased risk of cancer to humans and other animals that drink the water.
