![]() ![]() However, the current RCRA rules that govern oil and gas wastes are too weak because they are the same rules that apply to all “non-hazardous” wastes, including household trash.Īs a result, oil and gas companies are handling, storing, and disposing of these wastes in a number of troublesome ways. These include known carcinogens such as benzene, toxic metals such as mercury, and radioactive materials. Each well produces millions of gallons of wastewater and hundreds of tons of drill cuttings, which contain contaminants that pose serious risks to human health. Over the last decade, the oil and gas industry’s fracking-based boom has produced a vast amount of solid and liquid waste. The agency determined that such revisions of the regulations were necessary to address specific concerns with oil and gas wastes more than 25 years ago, yet has failed to meet its legal responsibility to act. RCRA requires that EPA review the regulations at least every three years and, if necessary, revise them. The groups notified EPA that they will file a lawsuit in 60 days unless the agency complies with its duty under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to review and revise the federal regulations governing how oil and gas waste must be handled and disposed. Toxic waste should not be sent to run-of-the-mill landfills, sprayed on our roads and fields, or stored in open air pits.” “The scary truth is that right now this waste-complete with carcinogens and radioactive material-is being dumped irresponsibly or disposed of like everyday household garbage. “Oil and gas waste is extremely dangerous-yet the EPA admitted decades ago that federal rules are inadequate to protect the public,” said Matthew McFeeley, attorney at NRDC. And EPA should require landfills and ponds that receive drilling and fracking waste to be built with adequate liners and structural integrity to prevent spills and leaks into groundwater and streams. EPA should ban the practice of spreading fracking wastewater onto roads or fields, which allows toxic pollutants to run off and contaminate streams. The public deserves better protection than this.”įor example, EPA should institute stricter controls for underground injection wells, which accept two billion gallons of oil and gas wastewater every day and have been linked to numerous earthquakes in Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas. “The oil and gas industry has grown rapidly since then, and yet EPA has repeatedly shirked its duties for nearly three decades. “We’re asking that EPA finally do what it found to be necessary back in 1988: update the regulations for oil and gas wastes,” said Adam Kron, attorney at the Environmental Integrity Project. The groups are calling on EPA to comply with its long-overdue obligations to update waste disposal rules that should have been revised more than a quarter century ago. The groups filing today’s notice letter are the Environmental Integrity Project, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthworks, Responsible Drilling Alliance, San Juan Citizens Alliance, West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization, and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. ![]() Environmental Protection Agency recently demanding regulations to stop oil and gas companies from dumping drilling and fracking waste in ways that threaten public health and the environment. Call on Agency to Issue Rules for Handling and Disposal of Oil and Gas WasteĪ coalition of environmental organizations filed a legal notice with the U.S. ![]()
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