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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20130&cosponId=12487
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House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: April 12, 2013 05:49 PM
From: Representative Jesse White
To: All House members
Subject: Banning disposal of hazardous wastewater from Marcellus Shale Drilling in "Open Air Impoundments"
 

I will be introducing legislation which will ban the use of open air impoundments (or pits) to store wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing process used to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations.

Wastewater impoundments are NOT an industry best practice, as per the industry itself. The new Center for Sustainable Shale Development, which includes industry partners Shell, Chevron, CONSOL and EQT, recently identified eliminating wastewater impoundments as one of their performance standards. Unfortunately, less reputable operators will not be bound by these standards and will continue to dump this hazardous material in this highly dangerous manner. Wastewater impoundments are banned in North Dakota and are not used in Texas and other drililng-friendly states.

Under my legislation, "freshwater" impoundments, used to store water before the hydraulic fracturing begins, would still be permitted for a period of seven (7) days and then would have to be closed. Under no circumstances would wastewater, produced water, flowback water, drill cuttings or any similar waste be permitted in the freshwater impoundment. DEP announced last week that they would begin testing for radiation in this wastewater, as it can contain naturally-occuring radioactive material brought up as part of the drilling process.

Currently, a company can build a freshwater impoundment, then convert it to a wastewater impoundment and haul hazardous material from anywhere and dump it there. DEP documents confirm these impoundments often leak and impact drinking water and nearby streams.

Even if there are no leaks, the water evaporates and the chemical emissions into the air can present a serious health hazard for nearby residents. Under Act 13, water impoundments are a permitted use in all zoning districts, including residential; not only would municipalities have no way to regulate them, the municipality and the residents have no way of knowing they even exist. Just last week, we learned about a possible leak at an impoundment in my hometown in Washington County of a 12,000,000 gallon wastewater impoundment no one even knew was there because it was built on top of a hill. This impoundment was originally built as a freshwater impoundment and then converted through a simple permitting process with the DEP.

We all talk about trying to develop Marcellus Shale "the right way"; wastewater impoundments do not fall under any definition of the "right way". These impoundments are hazardous waste dumps that are totally unnecessary for any responsible company operating in Pennsylvania. They are not a best practice and should be banned to safeguard the health and safety of Pennsylvanians living and working in the Marcellus Shale region.



Introduced as HB1542