Pennsylvania regulator allows radioactive, toxic drilling waste dumped as fill in city

DEP OKs drill cuttings as fill in city by Kent Jackson, October 11, 2013, Standard Speaker
Hazleton Creek Properties received approval to accept drill cuttings from one site – Clean Earth of Williamsport, department Spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said. Previously, drill cuttings have been disposed in Pennsylvania landfills with liners, and it was unclear Thursday if Hazleton Creek would line the area where cuttings will be placed. Clean Earth has approval to process up to 1,000 tons of cuttings per day, so that is the limit that Hazleton Creek could receive daily, Connolly said. Before shipping cuttings, Clean Earth tests them for radiation, which can occur naturally in rocks through which the drills pass. Clean Earth also tests for metals, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds entering and leaving the plant. The cuttings come from drilling sites in the Marcellus Shale formation that holds natural gas. Cuttings include rocks and soil. They arrive as mud at Clean Earth’s plant, where they are dried and stabilized with materials such as cement. [Emphasis added]

November 2012 – Encana drilling waste dumped on food land at Rosebud

This entry was posted in Global Frac News. Bookmark the permalink.