For Immediate Release
May 21, 2012 Contact:Jeff Tittel, Director, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
Dont Dump Fracking Waste In New Jersey
Toxic wastewater produced through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is already coming into New Jersey.The DuPont Deepwater facility has accepted fracking wastewater for treatment from PA-based PSC Industrial Services.The waste treated at the plant had been mixed with other partially treated liquid hazardous wastes before coming on-site.Our state is increasingly being targeted for disposal of this unsafe waste.DuPont could accept more of this waste in the future and that is why we need the Legislatrue to pass bill A575/S253 to prohibit the treatment, discharge, disposal, or storage of toxic fracking waste in New Jersey.DuPont has not confirmed whether it even has the facilities to treat fracking waste, which can contain radioactive materials.There have been other reports of fracking waste entering New Jersey in Elizabeth and Carteret.This waste is a threat to our public health and our waterways and we need our representatives to take action now.This has been done without the people of New Jersey even knowing about it.This could happen again without this bill.We need this legislation because we cannot trust DuPont and we cannot trust DEP to disclose when this waste is being trucked in, treated, and disposed of in New Jersey.
"The Delaware River is already overburdened with chemical pollution- the 4^th worst in the nation.We dont need to bring more dangerous waste in from other states.We need to ban fracking waste in New Jersey if we want to protect the Delaware River from these chemicals.Its bad enough that the Delaware River may be threatened by fracking, do we really need to import the waste?Stop dumping on New Jersey," *said Jeff Tittel, Director, NJ Sierra Club.* The fracking process creates millions of gallons of wastewater and solids for every new well drilled and each well can be fracked multiple times.Fracking waste contains over 700 hundred chemicals, many of them known carcinogens.Long term exposure to these toxins can cause nervous system, kidney, or liver damage.The gas industry is not required to disclose all the chemicals used in the process, and with these unknown additives it is impossible to know the full threat fracking waste presents.
"New Jersey cannot allow its water supplies to be held captive by multi-national oil and gas companies.We need this ban to protect New Jerseys waters, economy, and public health.We cannot allow special interests to destroy New Jerseys drinking water supplies in order to make a quick buck," said Tittel. The waste also contains harmful natural contaminants released from deep underground in the fracking process and brought back to the surface, including radioactive materials.Last yearan investigation of Pennsylvania and West Virginia gas wells by the New York Times found that of 240 wells, at least 116 were producing wastewater with radiation levels hundreds of times higher thanthe EPAs drinking water standard.Radioactivity in wastewater from at least 15 wells was thousands of times higher than the EPA standard.Wastewater treatment plants in New Jersey do not have the capability to treat radioactive elements, potentially allowing for this material to be discharged directly into our waterways. New Jerseys wastewater treatment facilities are not designed to handle the toxins found in fracking wastewater and cannot remove all the chemicals before discharging the waste into our waterways.This could potentially lead to the discharge of dangerously high levels of harmful pollutants into our rivers, groundwater, estuaries, and bays. Fracking waste is exempted from critical federal protections regulating the disposal of hazardous waste and hazardous materials. This free pass from important standards increases the risks to public health and the environment. The Deepwater facility is not the first to accept the waste in New Jersey. The Clean Earth facilities in Kearny and Carteret are currently accepting fracking drill cuttings at their landfills.LORCO Petroleum Services in Elizabeth has accepted over 105,000 gallons of drilling fluids produced during fracking.The DEP recently revised guidelines on this type of waste but is still allowing it to be disposed of in New Jersey. The Office of Legislative Services released a memo earlier this year finding that banning the disposal of fracking waste does not violate the Interstate Commerce Clause.New Jersey would be banning the disposal of all fracking waste within the state, no matter where it originates.
-- Kate Millsaps Program Assistant NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club 609-656-7612