Keep fracking wastewater away from Westchester

Keep fracking wastewater away from Westchester by Suzannah Glidden, August 6, 2012, The Journal News
The Journal News reported that the Board of Legislators will propose legislation that would ban wastewater from hydrofracking — a controversial method for using chemicals, water and sand to extract natural gas from deep underground — from being treated in county- and privately owned sewage treatment plants. Legislators would also prohibit the use of all such waste for road spreading as a deicer or dust suppressant or any other purpose on county roads. We strongly support these proposals, and urge the county to consider prohibiting the purchase or acquisition of fracking waste for any purpose by the county; dumping fracking waste within the county’s borders should be barred as well. Legislation is needed to ensure that fracking waste is not sent to sewage treatment plants because, although fracking waste contains toxic chemicals and radioactive materials that meet criteria for hazardous waste classification, it is not currently classified as hazardous waste by New York state due to regulatory loopholes. … The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has identified all seven of Westchester County’s sewage treatment plants as possible recipients of fracking waste, despite the fact that they are not equipped to process this waste.