Better Path Coalition Report: How To Close The Loophole Allowing Uncontrolled Road Spreading Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater & Fix Oil and Gas Waste Reporting System

By Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition

On December 13, the Better Path Coalition released a report called The Moratorium Morass which provides the public its first look at assessments conventional drillers were supposed to make before spreading more than 2.2 million gallons of toxic, radioactive drilling waste on unpaved roads in the Commonwealth.

For the first time since the Department of Environmental Protection’s 2018 moratorium on road spreading, the Bureau of Waste Management asked 17 drillers to provide determinations they were supposed to conduct before continuing road spreading using a loophole called Coproduct Determination. 

The Better Path Coalition obtained eight of the self-determinations in response to a Right-to-Know request filed in October.

Three of the eight drillers responded with copies of lab reports. A fourth accompanied its lab report with a one-page township resolution approving road spreading. 

The other four companies submitted an assortment of things like township endorsement form letters and safety sheets for the commercial product they use for comparison. 

None of the determinations came close to satisfying the requirements laid out in the PA Code.

“DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell would be, and probably should be, challenged to provide a detailed accounting of where waste has been spread and in what quantities, as well as a demonstration that the waste has posed no threat to human health or the environment. The fact is, he can’t,” says Karen Feridun, one of the co-founders of the coalition and the brief’s author.

Feridun’s attempt to use the Oil and Gas Division’s Oil and Gas Reporting Electronic (OGRE) system to track where the waste has gone revealed many problems with the system’s design and entries that should set off alarms but don’t. 

One determination DEP provided was from Pennfield Energy, even though the company has not reported road spreading since 2017, before the moratorium. 

In fact, Pennfield has not reported any waste disposal since 2017 despite the fact that gas production reports show that the company produced nearly 10166 barrels of oil between 2018 and 2020.

“The industry has been unrelenting in its efforts to see road spreading reinstated, but this regulatory Wild West scene is playing out against a backdrop of peer reviewed research that says the waste is a hazard. The DEP banned road spreading of unconventional waste in 2016. It’s time to ban all road spreading of oil and gas wastewater,” says Feridun.

Recommendations

The report makes five recommendations for closing the loophole and fixing the deficiencies in the oil and gas waste reporting system--

-- Ban road spreading – The DEP banned road spreading of waste from unconventional wells in 2016. The ban should be extended to include all oil and gas wastewater.

-- Reclassify oil and gas wastewater as hazardous – For more than 40 years, Pennsylvania has failed to break with the federal government’s classification of oil and gas wastewater as a special waste and use the authority it has to reclassify it as hazardous. 

-- Restrict wastes eligible for co-product determination – Without the flawed OGRE system, there would be no record at all of how much wastewater has been spread on roads by conventional drillers since 2018.

-- Require conventional drillers to file monthly reports – The DEP should have the same reporting requirements for conventional and unconventional drillers.

-- Auditor General DeFoor should audit DEP’s management of oil and gas wastewater and the OGRE waste reporting data system - In 2014, Auditor General DePasquale concluded that the DEP was “woefully unprepared" to monitor and regulate the shale gas boom after his office’s audit of the agency.

Click Here for a copy of the report.

Related Article This Week:

-- Millions Of Gallons Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Spread Illegally On Dirt Roads, Companies Fail To Comply With DEP Waste Regulations By David E. Hess, Former Secretary Department of Environmental Protection

Related Articles:

-- DCED PA Grade Crude [Oil] Development Advisory Council Meets Dec. 16 On Road Spreading Of Conventional Drilling Wastewater, Other Issues 

-- 17 Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Operators Under Review By DEP To Determine If They Comply With Program Allowing Road Dumping Of Drilling Wastewater

-- How The Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Industry Eliminated Any Restrictions On The Disposal Of Millions Of Gallons Of Its Wastewater On PA’s Dirt & Gravel Roads

-- A First-Hand Account Of How Repeated, Unlimited Road Dumping Of Oil & Gas Drilling Wastewater Is Tearing Apart Dirt Roads And Creating Multiple Environmental Hazards

-- Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, FracTracker Alliance Call On Citizens To Report Dumping Of Oil & Gas Drilling Wastewater On Dirt & Gravel Roads

-- The Science Says: Spreading Conventional Drilling Wastewater On Dirt & Gravel Roads Can Harm Aquatic Life, Poses Health Risks To Humans - And It Damages The Roads

-- Preliminary Results From New Penn State Study Find Increased Cancer, Health Risks From Road Dumping Conventional Drilling Wastewater, Especially For Children

-- New Pitt-Duquesne Study Shows Higher Exposures To Radiation In Road Dumping Of Drilling Wastewater When Appropriate Exposure Scenarios Are Used

-- Penn State Center For Dirt & Gravel Road Studies: Road Dumping Of Oil & Gas Wastewater To Control Dust Is Environmentally Unsound Practice

-- Op-Ed: The Story Behind Stopping Conventional Oil & Gas Brine Spreading On Dirt Roads

-- Op-Ed: Will Our Dirt Roads Again Be Used As Dumping Sites For Oil & Gas Well Wastewater

-- EQB Accepts Petitions For Study To Increase Oil & Gas Well Bonding; DEP Has $15 Per Well Available In Bonds To Plug Conventional Wells

[Posted: December 13, 2021]   PA Environment Digest