Radiation in Fracking Fluid is a New Concern
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
1 March 2011
By Don Hopey and Daniel Malloy,
Wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling may contain unhealthy
concentrations of radioactivity, and federal officials, researchers,
the industry and the former head of Pennsylvania's Department of
Environmental Protection have called for testing of drinking water
sources and full disclosure of results.
The New York Times reported in a story Saturday that 116 of 179
Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania had high levels of radiation in
wastewater samples and that wastewater discharges into rivers and
streams were untested for radiation even though government agencies and
the industry knew of the risks. The radiation is picked up by water
used to hydraulically fracture the deep, 380 million-year-old shale
layer and release the natural gas it holds.
In response to the Times article, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wrote a
letter Saturday to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
Lisa P. Jackson asking for responses to various issues regarding toxic
wastewater from fracking.
"I do not believe that the price for energy extracted from deep beneath
the earth's surface should include a risk to the health of those who
live above it," Mr. Markey wrote. "I am outraged that state and federal
regulators were evidently well aware of the risks that the wastewater
might pose, but instead chose to adopt a 'see no evil, hear no evil
approach' to regulation by ignoring them."
Mr. Markey asked Ms. Jackson to provide any new steps the agency is
taking to test sources of drinking water downstream from treatment
plants that take in drilling waste and, if no regulatory changes are
planned, to justify that decision in light of the Times report.
According to a June 2010 article in the online journal Environmental
Science & Technology, by David Kargbo, Ron Wilhelm and David
Campbell, all of the EPA's Region III office in Philadelphia, the
Marcellus Shale is considered to contain "elevated levels" of naturally
occurring radioactive materials.
They cite a recent study of 13 Marcellus fracking wastewater samples by
the New York Department of Conservation that found levels of radium-226
as high as 267 times the safe disposal limit and thousands of times
higher than the safe drinking water limit. Another study by the New
York Department of Health found elevated radium-226 levels in samples
of drilling "brine," a salty drilling wastewater.
John Hanger, former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection, denied charges in the Times article that the
state's gas drilling regulations are "lax," citing regulatory changes
that tightened water withdrawal and disposal rules, stream protections
and drilling standards.
But he said it raises "serious concerns" about radioactivity and public
health.
During his more than two years as DEP secretary, Mr. Hanger said he
reviewed the radioactivity issue with David J. Allard, DEP deputy
secretary for the Bureau of Air, Recycling and Radiation Protection,
and they determined it was not a threat to drilling workers or the
public.
"Personally I believe there isn't a [radiation] problem," Mr. Hanger
said. "But test the water."
A November 2010 study of fracking's effect on radioactive material in
the Marcellus Shale by Tracy Bank, a geologist at the State University
of New York in Buffalo, found that the process that released the gas
also releases uranium trapped in the shale.
She said additional study is needed to understand and predict the
reaction in the shale to fracking.
"We found that some of the metals in the shale can react to the
fracking fluids and become mobile, including uranium, chromium and
zinc, which can come back to the surface with the fluids," Ms. Bank
said. "It's totally treatable and all the chemically contaminated waste
water needs to be treated. It definitely can't be disposed of in
streams without treatment. That might result in a fish kill."
Kathryn Klaber, president and executive director of the Marcellus Shale
Coalition, a lobbying and advocacy organization that includes most of
the drilling companies operating in the Marcellus Shale, said after
drilling companies pre-treat wastewater to settle out drill cuttings
and other solids, which are sent to approved landfills, radiation
levels of water sent to sewage treatment plants for discharge are much
lower.
Public drinking water intakes do not often test for radiation levels,
but the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority will do so this year
because of issues raised by the Times article, said Stanley States,
authority water quality manager.
The DEP said it has added 78 well inspectors in the past 18 months to
review operations at the 2,815 Marcellus wells drilled to date.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983. Daniel Malloy:
dmalloy@post-gazette.com or 202-445-9980.