EPA to Control Fracking Fluids Disposal
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
21 October 2011
By Laura Olson and David Templeton, Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- Federal environmental officials announced Thursday
that they plan to develop new rules over the next three years for
disposing of natural gas drilling wastewater.
Those rules will create national standards for handling the briny
wastewater produced from drilling underground coal and shale
formations.
Pennsylvania officials say they expect the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency guidelines to dovetail with a state request
issued in April that gas drillers stop hauling wastewater to
unequipped municipal treatment facilities.
But state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael
Krancer also questioned whether the EPA rules are necessary,
noting that several of the federally overseen facilities also
voluntarily stopped accepting wastewater after the DEP request.
"Because of what we did with regulations and our April call [to
drillers], it virtually dried up," Mr. Krancer said in an
interview.
Meanwhile, the regulatory announcement drew cheers from
environmental advocates concerned about water safety. Industry
officials expressed skepticism, saying they viewed the move as
duplicative to current rules.
Officials at the EPA pointed to a July letter from Mr. Krancer as
one reason for the agency to become more involved in what has
traditionally been a state-regulated industry.
In that letter, the secretary wrote that there were several
specialized pre-treatment facilities that the commonwealth lacked
the authority to ask to stop accepting drilling wastewater. He
urged the federal agency to update its rules concerning those
treatment centers, noting that Pennsylvania's request to
state-regulated treatment centers had resulted in near-universal
compliance.
Drilling wastewater in Pennsylvania no longer is handled through
any facilities that discharge water back into streams or rivers,
according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade
group. That water is either recycled and reused, or disposed in
government-regulated injection wells both here and in Ohio.
But federal officials appear to have some questions about that
process. An agency spokesman said "extensive data gathering" is
planned, including visiting well sites, talking with industry and
environmental groups, and compiling a national survey of the shale
gas industry.
Coal bed methane standards are expected in 2013, and rules for
shale gas wastewater in 2014.
The agency said the proposal reflects recommendations in the U.S.
secretary of energy's advisory board report. Among that panel's
August suggestions was that agencies "should review and modernize"
rules regarding protection of ground and surface water.
They also have proposed updated air emissions rules, which would
impact oil and gas wells that go through the hydraulic fracturing
process.
That increasing federal involvement in drilling regulation has
prompted some in Congress, including U.S. Reps. Tim Murphy,
R-Upper St. Clair, and Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, to push back
against what they say is a "one-size-fits-all" approach from
Washington.
"Pennsylvania has a lot more people to enforce than the EPA does
and a lot more understanding of the local topography," Mr. Murphy
said. "The DEP is better equipped to do it."
Business groups such as the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas
Association echoed that sentiment, noting the local expertise has
grown in the commonwealth.
"This is yet another Washington solution in search of a problem,
as treated Marcellus water in Pennsylvania is no longer discharged
into surface waters," said Kathryn Klaber, president of the
Marcellus Shale Coalition.
Some environmental advocacy groups, however, believe additional
oversight by the EPA is sorely needed.
"The nation is in the midst of a fracking-fueled gas rush, which
is generating toxic wastewater faster than treatment plants can
handle it," said attorney Deborah Goldberg, of the Washington,
D.C.-based Earthjustice. "The EPA's proposal is a common-sense
solution for this growing public health problem and will help keep
poisons out of our rivers, streams, and drinking water."
Drilling companies in Pennsylvania are recycling fracking fluids,
but eventually these fluids will have to be disposed of in
injection wells or treated in plants designed to process fracking
fluids, she said.
Clean Water Action filed a notice in May that it intended to sue
the Franklin Township Municipal Authority in Greene County and
McKeesport Municipal Authority to stop them from treating fracking
fluids. The Franklin plant in turn stopped accepting well
wastewater. In July, Clean Water Action filed suit against the
McKeesport authority to force it to stop accepting drilling
wastewater.
Laura Olson: lolson@post-gazette.com or 717-787-4254. David
Templeton: dtempleton@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1578. Tracie
Mauriello contributed.