PA Environment Digest Blog

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

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

By Lauren Posey, Protect PT

The following testimony was submitted to the House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee for an October 5 hearing on Road Spreading Contaminated Water From Conventional Oil & Gas Wells. Read more here.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the extraction and disposal of oil and gas wastewater, or “brine,” a known hazard to human health and the environment.

Protect PT is a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to protecting the economic, environmental, and legal rights of residents in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties from the effects of fossil fuel activity.

We represent over 200 organizational members who are concerned about this issue.

Protect PT has previously written in support of House Bill 84, which this Committee passed earlier this year and would prohibit the dangerous practice of spreading oil and gas wastewater on our roads.

Due to the risks, and the ineffective de-icing and dust suppressing properties of this waste, we urge the Pennsylvania legislature to pass House Bill 84 into law, and we urge PA DEP to cease permitting mineral brine wells.

For too long, the oil and gas industry has used our communities as a cheap and easy dumping ground for its waste.

This surface disposal method would be unthinkable for most other industries.

Although oil and gas waste enjoys a regulatory classification of “residual waste,” its makeup is anything but benign.

This wastewater contains heavy metals, chloride, hydrocarbons, radioactive elements like radium and uranium, and toxic chemicals, all of which, once dumped, can indiscriminately enter our soil and water supply, degrade our resources, and threaten human health.

Radium is well known to cause cancer, particularly cancers of the bone, lung, breast, and liver, as well as blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. It accumulates in our environment and persists for thousands of years.

The practice of road spreading forces people to unwittingly come into contact with this hazardous material.

Once waste is spread on roads, people may get it on their car’s tires and track it onto their properties, where children and pets play.

Waste residue on driveways and in garages can transfer to shoes and be carried into homes and create a pathway of exposure.

The vast majority of road spreading takes place within the shale fields of southwestern and northeastern PA, putting the communities Protect PT serves at direct risk.

The workers who carry out the task of road spreading are also exposed.

The nonhazardous regulatory designation of oil and gas waste often leads to a lack of proper handling procedures and personal protective equipment (PPE).

We have heard from whistleblowers that workers are often not told what the waste contains and what the true risks of exposure are.

Furthermore, oil and gas wastewater has been studied and found to be ineffective at both de-icing and dust suppression.

In 2022, researchers at Penn State University found that it is no more effective at dust control than rainwater.

In fact, the high sodium content in the wastewater can actually degrade and destabilize dirt and gravel roads, causing accelerated erosion and leading to more dust over time.

Currently, our Commonwealth prohibits the practice of spreading waste from unconventional wells on roads, but a loophole in the Bureau of Waste Management’s Coproduct Program allows the industry to get away with dumping conventional well waste, even though it is chemically very similar to fracking waste.

This loophole must be closed. It is allowing toxic substances to pollute the environment on which Pennsylvanians rely, and to which we are entitled under Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

PA DEP approvals to spread brine under the Coproduct Program only require limited, infrequent, and self-reported chemical assessment of the produced water.

The coproduct determination reports submitted by conventional spreaders have never met the regulatory requirements of the program.

DEP would never have even known the conventional well owners were using the coproduct process had it not been for the Oil and Gas Program requiring well owners to report how much waste they generate and where they dispose of it, and even this data is not complete.

In 2023, 86% of conventional well owners failed to file annual waste generation reports, which means DEP has no idea how much waste those wells generated and where it was disposed of.

Doubtless, some of this unaccountated-for waste wound up illegally dumped on roads in rural counties of our state.

This widespread noncompliance demonstrates that a regulatory moratorium is not enough, and that law must be passed to set the firm and final word on the practice of road spreading.

Explicitly banning road-spreading will provide regulatory certainty and prevent the ongoing abuse of the Coproduct Program.

Dumping radioactive waste on roads is clearly bad practice, and it’s bad for Pennsylvanians.

Considering this, the PA DEP’s recent permitting of Danylko 6, a “brine well” in Erie County operated by BCD Properties, PA is a concerning development that may create a new pathway for producing and distributing hazardous substances.

This highly unusual permit treats brine as the product from the well, while any oil and gas from the well must be treated as solid waste.

The permit does not appear to require chemical or radiological testing of the brine before it is sold, distributed, or applied to roads or land. Initiating the commercial sale of a substance known to contain many contaminants, all while labeled with the innocuous name of “mineral brine,” is a step that Protect PT finds deeply troubling.

This action by DEP must be more fully assessed.

In closing, the science is clear. Road spreading is an ineffective and outdated practice that poses known environmental and public health risks.

Pennsylvania’s legislature must act to ban it for good. Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.

Click Here for Protect PT’s testimony.

Other Testimony/Written Comments

Testimony on this issue was presented by--

-- Seth Pelepko, DEP Deputy for Oil & Gas, Ali Tarquino Morris, DEP Deputy For Waste, Air, Remediation, Radiation

-- Dr. William Burgos, Professor of Environmental Engineering, Penn State University

-- Eric Chase, Assistant Director, Penn State Center for Dirt & Gravel Road Studies

-- Shannon Smith, Executive Director, FracTracker Alliance

-- David E. Hess, Former Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection

-- Holly Fishel, PA Association of Township Supervisors

Written comments were submitted by

-- Siri Lawson, Resident, Warren County

-- Lauren Posey, Protect PT

-- Steven Hvozdovich, Clean Water Action

-- Patrick Henderson, Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition

-- Stephanie Catarino Wissman, American Petroleum Institute - PA

Click Here to watch a video of the hearing.

Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Majority Chair of the House Environmental & Natural Resource Protection Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7647 or sending email to: gvitali@pahouse.net. Rep. Jack Rader, Jr. (R-Monroe) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7732 or click here to send an email.

PA Oil & Gas, Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Snapshot- October 3 to 9 [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 51: Multiple Contaminated Water Seeps Continuing From INR OPR LLC Cooper Shale Gas Well Pad In Indiana County After 336,000 Gallon Fracking Fluid Spill [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 357: S.R. Star O&G LLC Still Fails To Comply With An Order To Plug At Least Some Of The 11 Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells It Owns In Butler County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Conventional Well Fracking By Cline Oil Inc. Causes Uncontrolled Release Of Crude Oil From 2nd Abandoned Conventional Well In The City Of Bradford, McKean County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Large Release Of Contaminated Water Soaks Ground At DJR Well Services Conventional Oil & Gas Well Site In Mercer County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Flash Fire At Expand Operating LLC Shale Gas Well Pad Compressor Station On State Game Lands Causes Minor Damage In Great Bend Twp., Susquehanna County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Routine Inspection Of Appalachia Midstream SVC Shale Gas Water Pipeline Construction Site Found Fertilizer Mixture Sprayed Directly Into A Stream In Lycoming County [PaEN]

-- Spotlight PA: Barbara Laxon: A Retiree’s Quest To Help Track Down PA’s Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - October 10 [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Chapter 105 Permit For Expand Operating LLC 4 Mile Long 16-Inch Shale Gas Water Pipeline In Auburn Twp., Susquehanna County [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 73 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In October 10 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On A Chapter 105 Permit For Amazon Data Services Project Rosebud II In Luzerne County [PaEN]

-- DEP Sets Nov. 18 Hearing On Mid-Atlantic Interstate Transmission Line Project In Lehman And Delaware Townships, Pike County [PaEN]

-- PUC Sets Nov. 17 - 18 Hearings On NextEra 500 KV MidAtlantic Resilience Transmission Line Project In Greene, Fayette Counties [PaEN]

-- DEP To Hold Nov. 18 Hearing On RACT III Title V Air Quality Permit For Lehigh Heavy Forge Corp In Bethlehem, Northampton County [PaEN]

-- DEP Received A Waste Permit Renewal From Shawville Power LLC For Its Coal Combustion Residuals Facility In Clearfield County [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On An Air Quality Permit For Landfill Gas Collection, Treatment System At The Blythe Recycling And Demolition Site In Schuylkill County [PaEN]

-- DEP Soliciting Energy Generation, Storage Projects For 2027 Round Of PJM Expedited Interconnection Program Reviews [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

I fully support the anti-road spreading bill Rep. Vitali has brought forward-- House Bill 84.

Wikipedia defines the aerosolization of a fluid as converting a liquid into fine mist or the suspension of fine droplets in air and capable of being carried in the airflow (my words).

I began capturing the indiscriminate road dumping of oil and gas wastewater, also known as brine, beginning in 2011.

I have presented the PA DEP with hundreds of photographs documenting the careless and casual practice of dumping brine on both dirt and paved roads.

To a picture, to a complaint, to a report, the DEP has denied road spreading of brine is occurring on the roads of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Despite the evidence provided by my photos, the DEP has repeatedly challenged that brine dumping was occurring on the road in front of my house.

Two years ago, my husband and myself began the process of having a professional security camera system installed to prove to the DEP what we had been saying was true.

Fortunately for us, those cameras immediately curtailed the wholesale, flagrant use of our roadspace as a dumpsite for brine.

But, it did not completely halt it. The classic “midnight dumping” still occurred.

What my cameras caught was the indisputable evidence that when brine is “spread” or dumped, brine is aerosolized.

Aerosolized Wastewater Is Dangerous

I asked Microsoft’s A.I. search program, Copilot, a question, “Why aerosolizing oil and gas wastewater from a moving truck is dangerous.” It responded--

“Aerosolizing oil and gas wastewater from a moving truck is dangerous because it releases toxic, flammable and sometimes radioactive vapors into the air creating immediate and long-term health hazards for people and the environment.”

Toxic and hazardous vapors: Oil and gas wastewater often contains hydrocarbons, benzene, radium-226, radium-228, lead-210- and other contaminants from drilling fluid, sludge and brine. When the liquid is aerosolized, these contaminants volatilize, creating airborne gasses and fine particulates that can be inhaled.

Some vapors like hydrogen sulfide can cause eye irritation, nausea, dizziness at low levels and unconsciousness at high levels. Others, such as benzene are known carcinogens.

Flammability and explosion risk: Many of these vapors are highly flammable. Aerosolizing from a moving truck can send combustible gasses into the air, where they may ignite from a spark, hot surface or the truck’s own engine intake.

In documented cases, off-gases from vacuum trucks have entered engine intakes and caused flash fires, leading to serious burns.

Radioactive Contamination: Some wastewater contains naturally-occurring radioactive materials from rock formation, such as radium isotopes. Aerosolizing can spread these particles into the air, increasing the risk of inhalation and internal exposure, which can damage organs and increase cancer risk.

Environmental and community hazards: Aerosolized waste can disperse over a wide area, contaminating air, water and soil. Spills or leaks from a moving truck can also pollute surface and groundwater affecting drinking water sources for rural communities.

Operational and safety risks: Doing this from a moving vehicle increases the likelihood of uncontrolled dispersion and exposure during transport. The “slosh and surge” effect of liquid loads in trucks can also make handling hazardous materials more unstable.

Without proper HAZMAT training, protective equipment and containment systems, the risk of acute injury or chronic illness rises sharply.

Summary: Aerosolizing oil and gas wastewater from a moving truck is dangerous because it creates a cloud of toxic, flammable and sometimes radioactive vapors and particles that can cause immediate harm, ignite, or contaminate the environment.

Safe handling requires containment, ventilation and compliance with hazardous materials regulations, not open aerosolization in transit.

In fairness, Copilot’s answer was much more succinct than mine would have been, so I quoted their answer verbatim.

Personal Health Impacts

I provided two sets of pictures in this testimony from my camera system to show the gravity of another facet of brine spreading.

My husband and I have severe respiratory and cardiovascular issues that are well documented.

Our animals and personal property have suffered extensive damage from the brine dumped on our road.

Aerosolized oil and gas wastewater carries severe ramifications for us and every other resident of Pennsylvania that lives on a public paved or dirt road.

The ease with which Copilot answered my question and its specificity demands both consideration and explanation from the DEP and the State of Pennsylvania.

How dangerous is aerosolized oil and gas wastewater?

There is a finite number of ways brine can be disgorged from a vaccum truck or more recently, pick-up trucks.

Brine can be disgorged in a flood of fluid.

I have seen brine dispersed in macro amounts from spray nozzles.

I have photographed directional sprays and gushes.

Last year I began photographing the disposal of brine spraying from fast moving pick-ups, a regulation nightmare I was told by the Northwest Office of DEP.

Every road spreading brine disposal method has one constant-- a large portion of the brine being disposed is aerosolized.

It is my belief that oil and gas wastewater disposal by road spreading presents multiple pathways of harm to me, residents of any road where wellhead brine is dumped and the environment.

My pictures show brine fluid is aerosolized when road dumped.

This fact demands an answer from both DEP and the Commonwealth as to what harm it presents to residents and the environment.

Click Here for Lawson’s testimony + photos.