State calls for halt to shale wastewater treatment at 15 plants
State environmental regulators called Tuesday for Marcellus Shale natural gas drillers to voluntarily stop taking wastewater to 15 treatment plants that do not have to meet strict discharge standards that went into effect last year.
Citing concerns about high levels of bromides in western Pennsylvania rivers, acting Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer gave the drillers until May 19 to stop taking the waste to treatment facilities that were grandfathered into state rules that curb how much salt can be discharged into streams.
The request – which does not have the legal weight of an order – comes after federal environmental regulators, scientists and drinking water suppliers raised concerns about the drilling wastewater, which is laden with salts, metals and naturally occurring radioactive material that cannot be completely removed by conventional treatment plants.
The request came on the same day that the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, acknowledged that drilling wastewater is contributing to elevated bromide levels in the Allegheny and Beaver rivers.
Reducing the amount of salts, or total dissolved solids, in the wastewater also reduces bromides, which are nontoxic but can turn into cancer-causing compounds called brominated trihalomethanes when combined with chlorine at drinking water treatment facilities.
“Now is the time to take action to end this practice,” Krancer said, citing “more definitive scientific data, improved technology and increased voluntary wastewater recycling by industry” since the facilities were given special exemptions to the state total dissolved solids standards when they were implemented last year.
Krancer said there are other possible sources for the elevated bromides in waterways, but the agency believes that bromide concentrations “would quickly and significantly decrease” if Marcellus drillers stopped taking the water to the grandfathered plants.
Citing research by Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority that suggests the gas industry is contributing to the river bromide levels, Marcellus Shale Coalition President Kathryn Klaber said the industry “supports the appropriate action taken by DEP today” and is “committed to leading efforts, and working alongside DEP and other stakeholders, to address these issues quickly and straightforwardly.”
The majority of Marcellus Shale wastewater generated in the state is either recycled by drillers, taken to out-of-state disposal wells or treated at plants that meet the new standards, but a significant amount of the waste is still taken to plants that are not designed to treat it. That has raised concerns about toxins allowed to enter waterways upstream from drinking water intakes, especially in western Pennsylvania.
The 15 grandfathered plants are located in Allegheny, Cambria, Elk, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, Snyder, Venango, Warren and Westmoreland counties. There are no grandfathered treatment plants in or upstream of Lackawanna County.
State environmental groups praised the DEP action on Tuesday, but some also expressed reservations about the voluntary nature of the request.
“It is very hard for the public to be assured that their drinking water will be protected if there is only a voluntary requirement,” Pennsylvania State Director for Clean Water Action Myron Arnowitt said.
“While DEP is taking a first step here, we hope that they will order a full stop to all Marcellus wastewater discharges to our rivers.”
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: April 20, 2011
http://standardspeaker.com/news/state-calls-for-halt-to-shale-wastewater-treatment-at-15-plants-1.1134958