The Obama administration is moving to block one option for oil and gas companies trying to get rid of the millions of gallons of briny, metal-laden wastewater that can flow out of each hydraulically fractured well—leaving the industry with few alternatives.
As FuelFix.com reports, at issue is the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to block companies from sending that drilling wastewater to municipal treatment facilities ill equipped to remove the naturally occurring radium, bromide and other toxins carried with the fluid out of the ground.
When salty bromide mixes with chlorine at treatment plants, it can produce trihalomethanes linked to bladder cancer and miscarriages. Pennsylvania officials concerned about that toxic combination, and facing pressure from the EPA, blocked oil and gas companies from delivering their wastewater to the state’s treatment facilities in 2011, but federal regulations still allow the practice.
Public health advocates hailed the EPA’s “zero-discharge” proposal as a vital step to protecting drinking water nationwide in comments filed with the federal government last week. And while no known municipal facilities currently accept drilling wastewater, that could change as pressure and limitations mount on other disposal methods, says Rachel Richardson, director of Environment America’s “Stop Drilling” program.
Oil and gas producers traditionally have managed the wastewater by trucking it to treatment facilities, injecting it into deep storage wells or recycling the fluids. But municipal wastewater treatment facilities are blocked off in Pennsylvania, the only state where drillers were using them for disposal. Underground injection is drawing new scrutiny because of its possible link to earthquakes. And not all wastewater can be recycled.
Oil industry trade groups argue that the EPA is unfairly closing off the municipal treatment plant option by exaggerating the convenience and availability of wastewater injection and recycling. And some industry leaders worry the EPA’s move is just the first of many to come, as environmentalists opposed to oil and gas development focus criticism on wastewater disposal.
The EPA is now set to re-examine and refine its proposal, in response to at least 19,000 comments received by a July 17 deadline.
