DEP Analysis Concludes No Radioactivity Danger in Tenmile Creek
An extensive six-month investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has concluded that there is no indication of any elevated radioactivity in Tenmile Creek in Greene County. The latest DEP study was conducted after concerns were raised about the results of a set of surface water samples taken in the spring of 2014.
DEP’s Bureaus of Radiation Protection and District Mining Operations conducted comprehensive sampling at the same 3 locations where the earlier samples were taken at the Clyde Mine Treatment Facility (CMTF) near Clarksville, Greene County. Additionally, samples were taken at 9 other locations both upstream and downstream of the CMTF. Surface water samples were taken along with samples of sediment, sludge, soil, aquatic vegetation, and fish.
“Our goal was to get a complete picture of any possible radiological contamination,” said John Stefanko, DEP Executive Deputy Secretary for Programs. “The original 2014 samples used a basic methodology that provides a limited sensitivity for naturally occurring radioactive materials. The 2015 samples were analyzed using U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved methodologies for determining radium-226 and radium-228 in water, plants, soil, or fish. The 2015 water samples were taken when the average daily stream flows within the watershed were at near normal flow conditions.”
All water samples were below the EPA drinking water limit of 5 picocuries per liter(pC/L) for radium-226 and radium-228. DEP did not find any indication of accumulated radiation in the sediment, plants, or fish.
One sample, of treatment sludge in a tank at the CMTF, indicated a radioactivity level for radium-228 at 19.539 pCi/L, which is not a level of concern but was a point of interest for DEP. DEP’s Bureau of Mining Programs staff determined that because the treatment facility uses a high-density sludge which recirculates treatment sludge to remove contaminants from water, the radium values would be concentrated. Water exiting the CMTF did not contain a radium level above typical background radiation readings. Although the Department does not believe the radium-228 level is cause for concern, as a matter of public interest it will periodically resample and analyze the CMTF sludge in 2016.
A set of non-radiological water samples was taken simultaneously with the radiological samples to characterize the water flowing into the creek from the CMTF. DEP’s Bureau of Mining Programs staff analyzed the sample results and concluded that the flow of raw and treated mine water was typical mine drainage, consistent with what would originate from a flooded underground coal mine in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“Ultimately, there were no surprises in the environmental samples we took,” said Stefanko. “The radiological results were in line with expected background radiation readings. The non-radiological samples were consistent with what we regularly see in flooded underground mines in this region.”
ATSDR/CDC Northeast PA Polycythemia Vera (PV) Investigation Projects Update
Background
In 2004, using state cancer registry records, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PADOH) found a PV cluster in northeast Pennsylvania. PV is part of a disease group called myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), which is a group of slow-growing blood cancers where the bone marrow makes too many red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets.
In 2006, ATSDR was asked to help study PV patterns in the area. From 2007-2008, ATSDR reviewed medical records, conducted genetic testing, and confirmed this PV cluster.
In 2009, Congress funded ATSDR to continue this investigation. ATSDR is overseeing 18 projects with PADOH, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and various universities and private organizations. These projects are based on recommendations from an expert panel. The panel identified four areas for investigation; epidemiology, genetics, toxicology, and environmental studies.
As of October 1, 2013, all of the contracts for the 18 projects have ended. The last to end was the tissue bank contract, which closed for recruitment of new tissue donations from the PA tri-county study area in May 2014. At this time, no new samples will be added from the tri-county study area, but the geographically identified (but de-identified in terms of personal information) donations from the tri-county study area will continue to be available for researchers to access via this national tissue bank established at the Myleloproliferative Disease Research Consortium (MPD-RC). You can continue to follow the work of the overall MPD-Research Consortium on their website at: http://www.mpd-rc.org/home.php.
Status
The graphic with this email provides this summary as of August 2014. I’ve attached this graphic both as a “snapshot” in the body of this email, as well as a pdf attachment. Projects highlighted in “green” in the attached graphic have work complete and a final product available (if applicable). Projects highlighted in “yellow” have final products in progress and undergoing clearance. Projects highlighted in “red” have final products that are anticipated but not yet started.
As of August 5, 2014, work is complete and a final product is available (if applicable) for 6 projects. We are happy to announce that one new project (#16/17, PADEP’s environmental testing) moved from yellow to green since my May update; we now have a factsheet and final ATSDR health consultation report evaluating an initial set of radiological environmental sampling results from the study area. At the request of ATSDR, PADEP collected and analyzed environmental samples within the tri-county area and ATSDR evaluated the possible health effects of exposure to the radiological elements in the samples. Environmental samples from the cluster area were collected as a component of the overall research investigation into the PV disease cluster:
- Indoor air was analyzed for radon.
- Soil, sediment and water samples were analyzed for metals, organic compounds, and radioactive substances.
This ATSDR public health report focuses on an initial set of the radiological environmental sampling information. Additional reports evaluating other environmental and health information from the PV investigation will be released at a later date.
The ATSDR report found:
- Some houses in the study area had elevated levels of radon gas in indoor air. Radon gas was also found in the private well water of some homes.
- Soils from the study area had slightly elevated levels of radium.
- Without additional information, ATSDR cannot determine if the cluster of cases of PV disease in the tri-county area is related to the radiological exposures observed in the environmental sampling information.
In this report, ATSDR recommends:
- All residents in the study area should have their homes tested for radon gas. Houses with elevated radon levels should be retested. If a home is retested and elevated radon levels continue, residents should contact the state of Pennsylvania radon program hotline at 1-800-237-2366 and request additional information on how to reduce the radon levels in the home.
- People in homes with high levels of radon in their drinking water should contact the PADEP Radon Program for assistance. Home water supplies can be treated to reduce radon levels.
- ATSDR recommends that in those areas where radium in soils seems to be elevated, additional sampling may be helpful to further understand this exposure pathway. ATSDR will discuss the potential for a future collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey to further evaluate levels of radiological contaminants in environmental media in the study area.
These documents are available at:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/PolycythemiaVera/Polycythemia%20Vera%20Investigation%20in%20PA_HC_07-22-2014%20FINAL.pdf
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/PolycythemiaVera/PV%20(Still%20Creek)%20Tri%20County%20-%20FINAL%20Fact%20Sheet%20-%20Review%20of%20Radiological.pdf
Final products for another 9 projects are still in progress and remain coded as yellow. Final products for 2projects are anticipated but not yet started and remain coded as red.
For more information:
Visit ATSDR’s web page on PV: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/polycythemia_vera/index.html
Call ATSDR’s toll-free PV information line: 866-448-0242 or email jcx0@cdc, which will connect you to Dr. Elizabeth Irvin-Barnwell, ATSDR Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences.
Contact Lora Siegmann Werner, ATSDR Region 3, by phone at 215-814-3141 or by email at lkw9@cdc.gov.
Other Resources
1. Radiological Testing and Screening – http://www.water-research.net/index.php/radiological-contaminants
2. Radiological – Testing Parameters – Radon
State may limit drilling byproduct from being spread on farms
Pennsylvania is seeking to limit the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer on farmers’ fields if the sludge comes from sewer plants that treat wastewater from natural gas drilling.
Environmental regulators’ concerns about the sludge were highlighted in a New York Times article on Friday that described the risks of radioactive contaminants in the drilling wastewater concentrating in the sludge during treatment. The sludge, also called biosolids, is sometimes sold or given away to farmers and gardeners as fertilizer if it meets certain standards for pathogens and metals.
The Times article quotes from a transcript of a March 15 conference call between officials with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection about how to better regulate discharges of the wastewater that can be high in salts, metals and naturally occurring radioactive materials.
DEP is developing a guidance document about how to include new wastewater treatment standards into permits for new or expanding treatment plants that handle the drilling fluids. The new standards limit the amount of salty discharge, called total dissolved solids, that can enter state streams.
The draft guidance document would also bar treatment plants that receive untreated drilling wastewater from using their sludge for land application.
Ron Furlan, a division manager for DEP’s Bureau of Water Standards and Facility Regulation, is quoted in the the New York Times as saying sludge was included in the guidance document because “we don’t have a good handle on the radiological concerns right now, and in any case we don’t want people land-applying biosolids that may be contaminated to any significant level by radium 226-228 or other emitters.”
The guidance does not carry the legal weight of a regulation and would not be imposed on treatment plants unless their discharge permit is up for renewal or they apply for a new or expanded permit.
The draft guidance also proposes that treatment plants accepting untreated drilling wastewater develop radiation protection “action plans” and have monitoring requirements for radium 226 and 228, gross alpha and uranium established in their permits.
In a letter this week to the EPA, DEP Acting Secretary Michael Krancer wrote that the state has directed 14 public water supplies that draw from rivers downstream from treatment plants that accept Marcellus Shale wastewater to test the finished drinking water for radioactive contaminants and other pollutants. The state also called on 25 treatment plants that accept the wastewater to begin twice monthly testing for radioactivity in their discharges.
Tests of seven state rivers at sites downstream from wastewater treatment plants last fall showed that levels of radioactivity were at or below normal levels.
In the conference call quoted by the New York Times, environmental regulators also expressed concerns about radionuclides settling in the sediment of rivers where the incompletely treated wastewater is discharged from sewer plants.
“If you were really looking for radionuclides, that’s the first place I would look,” Furlan said.
DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh said Friday that there are currently no plans to begin testing river sediment for radionuclides.
“We will use the results of the increased testing/monitoring to see what is being discharged before making that decision,” she said.
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: April 9, 2011
http://citizensvoice.com/news/state-may-limit-drilling-byproduct-from-being-spread-on-farms-1.1130088#axzz1J1xZtYwG
Pa.’s attempts to track gas drilling waste flawed
Liquid that comes out of the wells — first in a gush, and then gradually for the years and decades it is in operation — is ultra-salty and contaminated with substances like barium, strontium, radium, and other things that can be damaging to the environment.
The natural gas industry’s claim that it is making great strides in reducing how much polluted wastewater it discharges to Pennsylvania rivers is proving difficult to assess because of inconsistent reporting by energy companies — and at least one big data entry error in the state’s system for tracking the contaminated fluids.
Last month, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection released data that appeared to show that drillers had found a way to recycle nearly 6.9 million barrels of the toxic brine produced by natural gas wells — fluid that in past years would have been sent to wastewater plants for partial treatment, and then discharged into rivers that also serve as drinking water supplies.
But those figures were revealed Thursday to have been wildly inflated, due to a mistake by Seneca Resources Corp., a subsidiary of Houston-based National Fuel Gas Co. The company said a worker gave some data to the state in the wrong unit of measure, meaning that about 125,000 barrels of recycled wastewater was misreported as more than 5.2 million barrels.
The error left the false impression that, as an industry, gas companies had created about 10.6 million barrels of wastewater in the last six months of 2010, and then recycled at least 65 percent of that total.
“They did put in gallons where they should have put in barrels,” Seneca spokeswoman Nancy Taylor explained after the error was reported Thursday by the Philadelphia Inquirer. There are 42 gallons in every barrel. Taylor said the company was working to correct its information.
So how much waste did the industry actually recycle? It may be impossible to say with certainty.
Not counting Seneca’s bad numbers — and assuming that the rest of the state’s data is accurate — drillers reported that they generated about 5.4 million barrels of wastewater in the second half of 2010. Of that, DEP lists about 2.8 million barrels going to treatment plants that discharge into rivers and streams, about 460,000 barrels being sent to underground disposal wells, and about 2 million barrels being recycled or treated at plants with no river discharge.
That would suggest a recycling rate of around 38 percent, a number that stands in stark contrast to the 90 percent recycling rate claimed by some industry representatives. But Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, stood by the 90 percent figure this week after it was questioned by The Associated Press, The New York Times and other news organizations.
“I am definitely holding to the 90 percent,” she said, adding that her figure was based on internal industry data. “It is definitely high and going higher.”
As for the wastewater management reports filed annually with the state and reported to the public, she and other people in the industry said they aren’t fully representative of the industry’s practices.
At least one company, Range Resources of Fort Worth, Texas, said it hadn’t been reporting much of its recycled wastewater at all, because it believed the DEP’s tracking system only covered water that the company sent out for treatment or disposal, not fluids it reused on the spot.
Another company that had boasted of a near 100 percent recycling rate, Cabot Oil & Gas, also Houston-based, told The AP that the figure only included fluids that gush from a well once it is opened for production by a process known as hydraulic fracturing. Company spokesman George Stark said it didn’t include different types of wastewater unrelated to fracturing, like groundwater or rainwater contaminated during the drilling process by chemically tainted drilling muds.
DEP officials did not immediately respond to inquiries about the problems with the state’s data.
The AP reported in January that previous attempts by the state to track where wastewater was going were also flawed. Some companies reported that wells had generated wastewater, but failed to say where it went. The state was unable to account for the disposal method for nearly 1.3 million barrels of wastewater, or about a fifth of the total reported in the 12 month period that ended June 30. At least some went to a facility that had not received permission from regulators.
Among large gas-producing states, Pennsylvania is the only one that allows substantial amounts of wastewater produced by gas drilling to be discharged into rivers. Other states don’t allow the practice because of environmental concerns. The preferred disposal method in most other places is to inject the well water into rock formations far underground, where it can’t contaminate surface water.
Liquid that comes out of the wells — first in a gush, and then gradually for the years and decades it is in operation — is ultra-salty and contaminated with substances like barium, strontium, radium, and other things that can be damaging to the environment.
Pennsylvania’s strategy for protecting the health of its rivers is based partly on knowing which waterways are getting the waste, and how much they are receiving.
Regulators monitor which rivers are being used as discharge points for treated well wastewater, and use reports filed by Seneca and other companies to help decide which waterways should be watched for signs that the rivers aren’t assimilating the waste stream. Even if Seneca’s data error had gone unnoticed — unlikely given the size of the blunder — it probably would not have had an effect on that effort, because it involved waste not sent to treatment plants for river disposal.
MARCH 10, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP846de77b9e4c41dbb94ddb76dca74dd6.html
Radiation-fracking link sparks swift reactions
Reports this week of high radiation levels in Marcellus Shale waste fracking fluids and weak regulation of the industry have turned on a spigot of action by federal and state officials.
U.S. Environmental Protection Administrator Lisa Jackson visited the agency’s Region III office in Philadelphia Friday to ascertain the radiation issue will be addressed in an ongoing national study on the drinking water impacts of hydraulic fracturing, an industrial process used in shale gas development.
The EPA will seek data from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the drilling industry on radioactivity in the fracking fluid “flowback” water.
In a statement released following Ms. Jackson’s meeting, the EPA said that while the national study progresses, it “will not hesitate to take any steps under the law to protect Americans whose health may be at risk,” including enforcement actions to ensure that drinking water supplies are protected.
After a well is drilled, millions of gallons of water, sand and chemical additives are pumped deep underground under high pressure to crack the shale formation and release the gas it contains. As much as 20 percent of that fracking fluid waste returns to the surface with the gas and contains a variety of radioactive minerals from the shale.
The New York Times reported that hydraulic fracturing wastewater at 116 of 179 deep gas wells in the state contained high levels of radiation and its effect on public drinking water supplies is unknown because water suppliers are required to conduct tests of radiation only sporadically.
A number of public water suppliers, including the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority and Pennsylvania American Water Co. said this week that they would voluntarily test for radiation.
State Rep. Camille Bud George, D-Clearfield, announced he will introduce legislation calling for mandatory and independent radiation testing of all public water supplies that could potentially be affected by Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater discharges, and requiring the drilling and gas companies to pay for the testing.
State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, renewed his call for a moratorium on drilling and said he will introduce legislation to toughen state Oil and Gas Act regulations on well siting around residences and streams, and impose a severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas production. Gov. Tom Corbett opposes such a tax.
“A moratorium is the most reasonable approach, especially in light of recent revelations about serious threats to our drinking water supply,” Mr. Ferlo said. “This bill provides a framework for updating and improving regulations, as well as retaining the economic benefits of Marcellus Shale development.”
In a statement issued Thursday, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, one of the most mainstream of the state’s environmental organizations, called on Mr. Corbett to drop plans to open more of the state’s forests and parks to Marcellus gas drilling.
By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11064/1129908-113.stm
Records show wastewater with radium sent to Troy Twp.
Water from two gas wells in Tioga County, Pa. with radium at nearly 700 times the levels allowed in drinking water went to nine municipalities – including Troy Township – to suppress dust in 2009, according to state records.
A recent report by “The New York Times” noted that more than 155,000 gallons of the drilling wastewater was sent by Ultra Resources to the nine locations.
According to the Times report, Pennsylvania allows salty brine that is produced from the drilling wastewater to be spread on roads to suppress dust or de-ice.
Richmond Township in Tioga County got 101,640 gallons of this water from wells with “high radioactivity,” the Times reported. By comparison, Troy Township received 6,300 gallons, the state records show. It was the only municipality in Bradford County listed on the state records.
The Times quoted Deborah Kotulka, the secretary of Richmond Township, whose name is on the state record, as saying, “I was told nothing about frack water or any gas-well brines or anything else.”
For Troy Township, township secretary Lonna Bly is on the state record as the contact person. When asked for comment, she said never heard of Ultra Resources. “I don’t know anything,” she said regarding the matter. She said that she only knew of liquid calcium and AEP Oil being applied on the roads for dust control.
Troy Township Supervisor Vice-Chairman and Assistant Roadmaster Don Jenkins said the township had a road spreading permit from the DEP to receive salt brine water, and last had the permit in summer 2009.
He said it was put on the roads to control the dust.
According to Jenkins, the township obtained the water from a trucking outfit, but he couldn’t remember the name of the company. A DEP lab tested the water from the trucking company before a permit was issued to the township, he said.
However, Jenkins said, the brine water the township received was from New York State from oil well drilling operations there. He said the trucking outfit that provided the water told the supervisors this was the case. Also, Jenkins said he believed hydrofracking for natural gas wasn’t being done in New York at the time. “It still isn’t,” he said.
He said whether the water was radioactive is a question DEP is going to have to answer.
“If we knew it was radioactive, we wouldn’t have been using it. Nobody would have.”
He said the township filed for a road spreading permit in 2010, and was told by DEP that no more permits were being issued.
The Times website noted that the water that went to the nine municipalities came from the Marshlands Unit #1 and Marshlands Unit #2 wells.
The website noted, “Laboratory tests attached by the drilling company show levels of radioactivity (measured in picocuries per liter) as high as 10,356 pCi/L gross alpha, 892 pCi/L Radium-226 and 2589 pCi/L Radium-228. The drinking-water standard for combined radium 226 and 228 is 5 pCi/L, and for gross alpha this standard is 15 pCi/L. With rain or the melting of snow or ice, drilling waste spread on roads could potentially wash into rivers and streams.”
The Times website continued by noting that “studies in New York and Pennsylvania have studied the risks of spraying natural gas wastewater on roads by modeling the risks faced by people who walk along roads every day for many years. These studies found no health impact. In other words, there is limited, if any, exposure risk posed by this wastewater. The kind of radiation most commonly associated with drilling waste, called alpha radiation, loses energy very quickly and cannot get past thin barriers, including skin.”
It continued, “However, there is a different sort of risk with this type of radioactive drilling waste. If this alpha radiation comes into direct contact with live cells, it can cause harm. This can happen when people consume this kind of radioactive material, whether they eat it, drink it or breathe it in. So the threat from road-spreading brines is not the risk that someone walking down the road will get cancer, even if they walk along that road every day for years.”
“Instead, the problem is that if the radioactive material in the wastewater were to run off into freshwater supplies, people could end up drinking water that is contaminated. Dilution can certainly reduce the threat from this waste. But the question is whether the waste will be diluted enough to be made safe. This means that the health risk depends not only on how radioactive the wastewater is, but also the amount of the wastewater compared with the fresh water it mixes with.”
A DEP spokesperson said no details were available Wednesday afternoon, but questions regarding the Troy Township matter would be researched and an answer provided.
BY ERIC HRIN (STAFF WRITER)
Published: March 3, 2011
Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; or e-mail: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com.
http://thedailyreview.com/news/records-show-wastewater-with-radium-sent-to-troy-twp-1.1113361