An environmentalist in North Dakota says legal action against the state is likely over recent rule changes that allow for higher radioactivity levels in oil-field waste.
The rule changes, set to take effect Jan. 1, will boost annual radiation-level allowances for state landfills from 5 picocuries per gram of material to 50 picocuries, which will make in-state disposal more affordable. Also included in the rule change is the requirement that producers of the material, officially known as Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM), register with the North Dakota Department of Health, which will allow the agency to track the waste from production to disposal.
North Dakota Energy Industry Waste Coalition Chairman Darrell Dorgan on Tuesday criticized the department’s monitoring of radioactive material, saying the state is bending to the will of the oil industry to the detriment of public health. Oil and gas exploration, particularly in the Marcellus Shale and Bakkan Shale formations, has increased volumes of TENORM in North Dakota and other states.
“If they have been unable and unwilling to control radioactive waste at 5 picocuries, why would anyone in their wildest imagination believe that they would have any interest or any ability to control, track, or follow 50 picocuries, a tenfold increase,” Dorgan said. “This was decided the day the oil industry asked for this change. However, the job of the state Health Department in North Dakota is to protect the health and welfare of the people who live in North Dakota, not profit for people who live in Oklahoma City and Dallas.”
He said the basis for the legal challenge will be that the public was not given proper notice for an August public hearing tied to the approval process. Vonette Richter, assistant code revisor for North Dakota’s Legislative Council, said Tuesday that the Health Department has adhered to all requirements for public notice, hearing, comment, and attorney general review. The legislature’s Administrative Rules Committee adopted the rules on Monday.
Dorgan’s organization and the Dakota Resource Council requested a state attorney general’s opinion on the matter in October. The group has been told the opinion could take six months, which Dorgan said he regarded as a “stall tactic.”
