Landfill Taking Drilling Waste
DEP says protective liners keep materials contained
Wheeling WV Intelligencer
17 May 2011
By Casey Junkins, Staff Writer, The Intelligencer / Wheeling
News-Register
WHEELING - With permission from the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection, Chesapeake Energy is dumping waste at the
Short Creek Landfill.
"The advantage of taking this waste to the landfills is there are
protective liners in landfills and the leachate is collected and
tested," said DEP spokeswoman Kathy Cosco. "This is really drilling
waste, which includes drill cuttings and the drilling mud that is used
in the process."
During a recent federal court hearing in a case in which Wetzel County
property owners Larry and Jana Rine are suing Chesapeake for allegedly
dumping benzene and radioactive material into a large hole on the
Rines' property, Chesapeake attorney Timothy Miller noted Chesapeake
has been taking drilling waste to the Short Creek Landfill on North
Fork Road.
None of this material seems to be radioactive, however. Testifying on
behalf of Chesapeake, environmental consultant Ernest Franz said a set
of alarms on the sides of the landfill's entrance would sound if the
truck contained radioactive material.
He said no truckloads of Chesapeake waste have been turned away from
the landfill for this reason.
"Chesapeake utilizes a closed loop drilling process throughout the
Marcellus (Shale). This process separates drill cuttings into steel
bins that are taken off site for disposal in approved regional
landfills," Chesapeake's Director of Corporate Development Stacey
Brodak said when asked for further explanation of the comments from
Miller and Franz.
Kosco said the DEP regulates West Virginia's landfills but does not
have a specific regulation for the disposal of drilling waste. She said
the drill cuttings are classified as "special waste," like gasoline
contaminated waste resulting from highway accidents.
"Like when a tractor-trailer overturns and diesel fuel is spilled, the
absorbent material used to clean up that spill is considered a special
waste and can be taken to landfills that are permitted to accept it,"
she said.
Cosco said the DEP sent letters to landfills in 2009 to let them know
they would need to modify their permits to accept the drilling waste.
Testing for certain metals and petroleum hydrocarbons is required under
the new regulations.
Dumping the waste in landfills may be a viable alternative for natural
gas drillers because West Virginia's public water systems are no longer
able to accept drilling waste. According to the DEP, Wheeling-based
Liquid Assets Disposal allegedly dumped briny wastewater from gas
drilling sites at the Center Wheeling pollution plant from January 2009
to February 2010. During this time, LAD allegedly exceeded the
9,000-pound daily chloride limitation for Wheeling's plant on about 50
occasions. This resulted in the DEP issuing a $414,000 fine against the
city.