This guest essay appeared in the Erie Times-News Oct. 20, 2026, Tribune-Review Oct. 23, 2026, Warren Times Observer Oct. 24, 2026 and TheDerrick.com Nov. 4, 2026.
Recently, the Department of Environmental Protection told the PA House Environmental Committee all contaminated water-- brine-- from conventional oil, gas and mineral brine wells contains the same pollutants-- hydrocarbons, salts, heavy metals and other chemicals.
These pollutants, DEP said, are potentially harmful to the environment and can threaten drinking water. [Read more here.]
DEP said studies have shown spreading this contaminated water on roads to reduce dust-- its primary use-- is no more effective than plain water, but with environmental risks.
It also chemically destabilizes dirt and gravel roads causing more dust.
DEP’s statements aren’t guesswork, they are backed by Penn State science. [Read more here.]
For decades, we have failed to come up with a cost-effective way for the conventional oil and gas industry to safely dispose of their contaminated water.
And this isn’t a small problem.
The conventional oil and gas industry reports producing 42.6 million gallons of contaminated water a year. [Read more here]
That number is probably much higher because owners of 81,000 of the 105,000 conventional wells failed to report any information on how much waste they produce. [Read more here.]
Because of the lack of disposal options, there has been a problem with conventional oil and gas well owners illegally dumping their contaminated water on dirt, gravel and paved public roads just to get rid of it.
While DEP’s Oil and Gas Program requires conventional oil and gas well owners to manage their contaminated water as a waste with restrictions on how it can be disposed of, there are owners of four conventional wells that do not.
Since about 2007, DEP has allowed three conventional “mineral brine” wells drilled into oil and gas geologic formations in Erie County to use their contaminated water however they like, including spreading it on roads. [Read more here]
DEP said 2.4 million gallons of contaminated water from these three conventional oil and gas “mineral brine” wells was spread on roads in “dozens of municipalities” with no restrictions during 2025. [Read more here]
The conventional oil and gas industry is looking to expand this “mineral brine” loophole to more wells, even converting existing wells to “mineral brine” to allow unrestricted disposal of contaminated water. [Read more here.]
This, in the face of the conventional industry’s own testing in 2021 that confirmed “mineral brine” has the same chemical pollutants in it as conventional oil and gas well waste. [Read more here.]
We’ve tried different ways to regulate safe disposal of this contaminated water, but they all failed.
I believe we need to look at a solution that isn’t more regulations, but takes advantage of capabilities Pennsylvania’s shale gas industry already has to deal with this issue.
We already have a sophisticated network for reclaiming and reusing contaminated water from conventional and shale gas wells in Pennsylvania.
The shale gas industry reclaims and reuses up to 93% of the 3 billion gallons of water it uses every year.
I propose a Good Neighbor Conventional Oil & Gas Contaminated Water Recycling Program that requires all contaminated water produced by the conventional industry to be reclaimed by the shale gas industry at no cost to conventional well owners.
Even if conventional well owners produce 100 million gallons of contaminated water a year, it’s a drop in the bucket (3.3%) of the 3 billion gallons managed now by the shale gas industry.
This is an unprecedented opportunity for the shale gas industry to show real leadership and be a Good Samaritan in a way that will benefit the environment, public health and worker safety in a unique way.
We need safe disposal solutions, not more ways to dump contaminated water on our roads.
David E. Hess served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection under Governors Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker. He can be contacted at: paenvirodigest@gmail.com.
(Photo: Road spreading conventional contaminated water in Erie County in June 2025 submitted by Shannon Smith from the FracTracker Alliance to the House Environmental and Natural Resource Committee on October 5, 2026, with permission. Read more here.)
Reference Links:
-- House Hearing I: DEP Allows The Use Of Contaminated Water From New 'Mineral Brine' Conventional Wells On Roads, While Prohibiting Contaminated Water With The Same Harmful Pollutants On Roads From Other Conventional Oil & Gas Wells [PaEN]
-- House Hearing II: Road Dumping Contaminated Water From Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Creates An Aerosol Mist Carrying Pollution Through The Air And Into My Lungs - By Siri Lawson, Warren County Resident [PaEN]
-- House Hearing III: Protect PT: For Too Long The Oil & Gas Industry Has Used Our Southwest PA Communities As Dumping Grounds For Their Waste - Road Dumping Contaminated Water From Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Must Be Banned [PaEN]
-- House Hearing IV: We Should Not Be Trying To Find New Ways To Dump More Contaminated Water From Conventional Oil & Gas Wells On Our Roads, It’s Obviously Not A Solution; We Need Safe Disposal Options - Here’s One [PaEN]
Reference NewsClips:
-- Inside Climate News - Rebecca McCarthy: PA Opens A New Loophole For Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Disposal
-- MonValley Independent: Pennsylvania Opens New Loophole For Conventional Oil And Gas Wastewater Disposal On Roads
-- Erie Times-News Guest Essay: Oil And Gas Brine Does Not Belong On Erie County Roads - By David E. Hess, former Secretary of DEP [PDF of article]
-- TribLive Guest Essay: Oil, Gas Well Brine Contains Hazardous Pollutants, So Why Are We Still Dumping It On Our Roads? - By David E. Hess, former Secretary of DEP [PDF of Article]
-- Warren Times Observer Guest Essay: We’re Still Dumping Pollutants On Our Roads [Conventional Oil & Gas Contaminated Water - Brine] - By David E. Hess, former Secretary of DEP [PDF of Article]
-- TheDerrick.com Guest Essay: Don’t Allow The Negligent Dumping Of Conventional Oil & Gas Well Brine On Roads - By David E. Hess, former Secretary of DEP [PFD of Article]
Related Articles This Week:
-- DEP - Day 72: INR OPR LLC Still Collecting Contaminated Water, Building Structures To Recover Water At Cooper Shale Gas Pad From August Spill Of 336,000 Gallons Of Fracking Water In Indiana County [PaEN]
-- DEP - Day 135: Contaminated Water Discharges Continue, Still Fails To Comply With Cleanup Order At Equitrans Water SVC [EQT] Richter Shale Gas Water Impoundment In Greene County [PaEN]
-- DEP - Day 609: Oil & Gas MGMT Inc. Failed To Take Actions Or Respond To Violations At 2 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In Westmoreland County [PaEN]
-- DEP: Routine Inspections Find 6 More Anderson Energy SVC LLC Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Abandoned, Not Plugged In Venango County [PaEN]
-- DEP To Hold Dec. 8 In-Person Community Update On Energy Transfer/Sunoco Jet Fuel Pipeline Rupture Cleanup In Upper Makefield Twp., Bucks County [PaEN]
-- PUC Approves $150,000 Penalty Settlement With UGI For Faulty Plastic Natural Gas Pipe Installation Practices [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Reports Low-Flow Stream Conditions Trigger Stop To 51 Shale Gas Water Withdrawals, 13 More Put On Watch Status [PaEN]
-- DEP Citizens Advisory Council, Environmental Justice Advisory Board Meet Nov. 10 On Fossil Fuel Impacts On Communities, Mapping PA’s Energy Infrastructure [PaEN]
-- PA Election Results: Democrats Now Control PA Senate, Retain PA House, Governor’s Office [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- Rolling Stone - Justin Nobel: Ohio Denies Evidence Of Fracking Waste In Drinking Water, Its Own Records Show Otherwise
-- Inquirer: A Hard Winter Is Coming For PA Homes That Heat With Oil
-- WESA - Rachel McDevitt: How Will EQT’s Plan To Buy Range Resources Affect Natural Gas Market? [Data Centers, Price Shaped By Global Events]
-- Wall Street Journal: President Pushes To Restore Russian Natural Gas Sales To Europe Via Ukraine
-- Financial Times: Petrol Prices Set To Hit Record High Under President’s Administration
-- Capital & Main - Audrey Carleton: Can An Independent State Senate Candidate Turn Pennsylvania Senate Blue [Jodi Borello v. Sen. Bartolotta]
[Posted: November 5, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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