May 12 Forum At Chatham University To Explore Waste From Shale Fracking

As shale gas fracking expands in Pennsylvania so does the amount of liquid and solid waste generated, including hazardous and radioactive materials, yet oil and gas waste has exemptions from federal and state regulations.

How do we handle the increasing amount of waste, and minimize environmental and public health impact?  

On May 12 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Eddy Theatre on the Chatham University campus, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania presents a Shale Waste Disposal Forum in collaboration with Chatham’s Office of Sustainability and its Falk School of Sustainability.  This forum is free and open to the public.

Unconventional natural gas drilling produces a greater volume of wastewater and solids than traditional gas operations, but fracking waste has not yet received much attention. The panel of experts at the Shale Waste Disposal Forum will discuss the scope of the problem, provide various perspectives on this issue and offer best practices and policy solutions.

Panelist Nadia Steinzor, the lead author of Earthworks’ new report, Wasting Away, about shale waste disposal practice and policy in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York, says that current regulation is “piecemeal” and “scattered among different areas of government.”

Because of regulatory exemptions, “wastes are treated and disposed of using systems not designed to handle them.”

Other panelists include Scott Perry, DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil & Gas Management; Carl Spadaro, Environmental General Manager for MAX Environmental, a firm that handles shale waste; and citizen activist Barbara Lucia from the West Side Alliance of Warren.

Presentations will be followed by audience Q&A. Stephanie Ritenbaugh, a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “PowerSource” section, will moderate.

The Shale Waste Disposal Forum is presented as part of the League’s “Straight Scoop on Shale” initiative, which is supported by a grant from the Colcom Foundation to the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania Citizen Education Fund.

For more information, visit the Shale Waste Disposal Forum webpage or to RSVP, send email to: shalemarcella@gmail.com or call 1-800-61-SHALE (1-800-617-4253). Pre-registration is preferred but not necessary.