For the last 3 decades, oil and gas companies have taken advantage of a loophole in state laws governing the disposal of toxic drilling waste. Such drilling waste contains proprietary chemical additives, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, radionuclides, and salts that can be harmful to both humans and our environment. Pennsylvania state records show that fracking wastewater from unconventional drilling can contain as high as 26,600 picocuries per liter of Radium-226. This is equivalent to 13,000 CT scans of the skull. The limit for occupational radiation safety is 50,000 picocuries per liter for a given year.
Despite oil and gas waste presenting a hazard, the loophole exempts them from following hazardous waste protocols. This means that dangerous pollutants are being disposed of in our communities. In fact, millions of tons of this solid waste has ended up in local landfills where it creates a “radioactive tea” or “leachate” that is then sent to municipal wastewater treatment plants that are not equipped to remove the radioactivity. According to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Data, leachate from these landfills was measured at 75 times over the safe drinking water limit for radium.
State Rep. Sara Innamorato (D-Allegheny) and Senator Katie Muth (D-Berks, Chester, Montgomery) have introduced legislation to prevent this waste from entering municipal landfills and waterways, but it needs your support.
Oil and gas operators must follow the same rules as other similar industries; if the wastes they create meet the definition of hazardous, they should also be following the rules to dispose of hazardous waste. Protecting our public health and the safety of our children's future should not be a partisan issue. We are demanding elected officials across party lines to put our health before corporations' profits.
Read more on our blog post here.