Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
8/28/2015
A group of environmental activist organizations plans to sue the Environmental Protection Agency should the agency refuse to introduce stronger disposal regulations on fracking waste, including Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM).
The group, led by Environmental Integrity Project and the Natural Resources Defense Council, alleged this week that the EPA has failed to adhere to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) guidelines that require the agency to regularly update federal regulations concerning fracking waste handling and disposal.
The EPA has not updated those regulations since 1988, according to the groups, although much of the responsibility for regulating fracking waste has fallen onto individual states, with some states choosing more stringent requirements than others.
The group, though, wants the EPA to enact stronger disposal regulations surrounding the use of underground injection wells, the practice of spreading fracking wastewater onto roads or fields, and the requirement that landfills accepting the waste should have adequate liners and structural integrity to prevent spills and leaks into groundwater and streams.
“Oil and gas waste is extremely dangerous—yet the EPA admitted decades ago that federal rules are inadequate protect the public,” NRDC attorney Matthew McFeeley said in a statement. “The scary truth is that right now this waste—complete with carcinogens and radioactive material—is being dumped irresponsibly or disposed of like everyday household garbage. Toxic waste should not be sent to run-of-the-mill landfills, sprayed on our roads and fields, or stored in open air pits.”
Should the EPA fail to act within 60 days of the notice letter, the environmental groups intend to ask a federal court to set strict deadlines for agency to complete the update. The EPA, meanwhile, said it would review the group’s letter. “EPA will review the Notice of Intent and any related information submitted to the agency,” EPA Deputy Press Secretary Laura Allen said this week.
The EPA also pointed to its efforts to preemptively combat wastewater problems by proposing pretreatment standards that would require zero discharge of pollutants from unconventional oil and natural gas extraction facilities into municipal wastewater treatment plants. “EPA will continue to work with the states and organizations such as the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission to ensure that the latest information and tools are made available to UIC directors to address potential concerns related to injection-induced seismicity,” the EPA said.
The increased activity in oil and gas exploration, especially in the Marcellus Shale and Bakkan Shale formations, has increased volumes of TENORM in states where that type of waste did not regularly occur. Radioactive contaminants such as uranium, thorium, and radium naturally occur within the Earth; the fracking process exposes that material to drill tailings and water, among other things, and brings it to the surface
States including Pennsylvania and North Dakota have concluded after conducting studies looking at how landfills could handle the increased radiation levels that there is little potential for harm to workers or the public from radiation exposure due to oil and gas development. North Dakota went so far as to increase the radiation level allowed per year at its landfills from 5 picocuries per gram of material to 50 picocuries, increasing the amount of TENORM that can be disposed of in the state’s industrial landfills.
